Nancy Drew #33: Midnight in Salem is now available to purchase from both HeR Interactive as well as Steam.



Happy gaming!

Thanks, Marian! I hope that it was worth waiting for!

Ana

Thanks Marian!

Thanks, Marian.

Thanks Marian.

michael gray walkthrought is up.

Thanks, family! Do you have a link?

Thanks Marian -

I think I will wait for some players to comment before 'pouncing' on this one.

i made a mistake , he must have not got his game, all i got was adventure game fan 8, j.b. lewis,

You did not make a mistake, family. Michael Gray has been livestreaming it and he finished yesterday. He did a blind playthrough. Here is where the livestream begins:

Midnight in Salem

He was a tester for part of the game and got his name in the credits this time, which is nice.

Tally Ho, I am playing the game but have decided not to comment upon it until I have finished it.

I'm looking forward to your comments Marian. First impressions are nice to see but I do believe the whole game needs to be played to really know. And, of course, it is always a matter of preference. (I liked Syberia 3; not many others did.)

The game installed smoothly and starts up with an evocative still picture of an abandoned house in glorious 2560 x 1440 resolution on my Windows 10 monster machine.

From there it's downwards.

I try to refrain from being negative about games on forums like this, since I make games myself, but sometimes it can't be helped... I haven't played much yet, but this far, I'm thoroughly disappointed in every single aspect of the game.

After the silly and stilted prologue you're hastily thrown into to a room which is supposed to be scary. On screen, you always have the inventory plus Nancy's phone, which looks EXACTLY like a low-res icon from a late 1990's website. I was expecting full 3D movement, like in Real Myst or the Tex Murphy games. But you move in a node-based environment, much like in the earlier games. The only real difference from the earlier games is that the transitions are seamless. I don't think that this is a problem in itself, but the use of the 3D engine makes the screens look much worse than the (sometimes beautifully) individually rendered pictures in the earlier games.

I was a big fan of the first half of the Nancy Drew games (except for the first one). The second half was more centered around repetitive chores than the intelligent puzzles featured in the first half, and didn't really appeal to me. But say what you want about Her Interactive, one has to give them that they were able to put out two solid games every year until 2015. It's a total mystery why this took almost 5 years to make.

Mikael, I appreciate your honesty. I too was a fan of the games and couldn't wait for the next release. They had such talented team members. I am not purchasing this one.

well I purchased it but but sorry that I did and I do agree with you I really don't care at all to play it so I just unistalled it . my mistake I guess. Dianne

IF this new Nancy Drew production had stayed faithful to its original era and just taken advantage of the progress in gaming technology to portray it - and IF the "new proprietors" had been honest with the huge fan base they already had (waiting in anticipation) about all the changes and delays of the last few years, I might have been a teeny bit tempted to relent and purchase the game.

(Even though I hadn't been impressed by the monotony of those game padding chores that were incorporated in so many of the later releases 🙀)

But the more I saw and heard about the version we were going to be offered, the less enthusiastic I became.

I won't be buying it 👎

Arglefumph's first impressions (from after playing the game in the livestream)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4fi24KQxSc

I think he's too kind to it.

J.B. Lewis gives his thoughts at the end of the last video of his playthrough
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4KFv1IlaCY
Fast forward to 24 minutes into the video to get past the end of the game.

I had a bit of a laugh around 28:53 - 29:17 where he says

...and right after he says "microtransactions" the music stops and you hear an ominous bang...

+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+

Locations lack the detail of previous Nancy Drew games -- not just in how things "look" but in how much you can interact with. There were lots of empty nodes where you couldn't really interact with anything and there wasn't much to see.

Too much dialogue and not enough puzzles.

One of the shorter Nancy Drew games -- strange considering one of the excuses they gave for moving to a 3D engine was to have longer games with more expansive environments.

The new voice actress for Nancy sounds a lot better in the game than in the trailers. But she seems to have adopted many of Lani Minella's speech patterns for Nancy. Not that that's a bad thing for the customer, but it seems like Lani created the Nancy Drew voice and personality, and the new girl is just copying her.

I will try to give a longer review after I have completed the game, but at the 70% mark I would give it a 6/10. I pretty much am in agreement with Arglefumph in terms of the score.

Definitely not a game for puzzle lovers. While there are a few good puzzles in the game, it is very puzzle lite and far more dialogue heavy. You spend a lot of time talking to characters in this game and some of the conversations are quite long. For some this may be a positive and for others a negative.

The new voice of Nancy is merely okay. Nothing particularly noteworthy about it and nothing atrocious. I feel bad for the woman who has taken over (Brittany Cox) because she is a fan of ND and has even played some of the games, but Lani's were big shoes to fill. During a conversation with multiple characters, Nancy's voice is not a standout and is not highly individuated the way that it was before.

Jenny, have you played the game or are all the observations you list from other people?

I'm not a big fan of lengthy dialogue. I will play the game someday though, I assume.

I want to know how family likes the game. Haven't heard from her yet.

As far as I know, Jenny hasn't played the game.

I also wanted to mention that initially I thought there was a problem with the lip syncing, but once I figured out the right settings for the game to make it run optimally on my system, it was much better than before. A lot of ND game fans are not used to having to mess with screen resolution, shadows, antialiasing, etc., and at least some of the complaints about lip syncing and lag would go away if they knew what the optimal settings would be for their computer (assuming their computer meets the system requirements).

The game is by no means technically perfect and in truth I see defects (some of them glaring) that definitely need fixing/improvement, but I just know that the complaints about game performance would be less numerous if people were running the game with the right settings.

I watched the playthroughs by Arglefumph and J.B. Lewis, then watched the comments/reviews they posted after finishing. All but one of the observations I listed were noted in one or both of their reviews/comments videos, but I agreed with those opinions.

The comment about the new Nancy Drew voice actress and Lani was my own opinion, not theirs.


There were quite a few puzzles near the end of the game. But for most of the game there weren't as many puzzles as in other Nancy Drew games, and some of them are those you've seen 60 times before -- like the torn up note you have to reassemble, and the paper-clip-in-the-lock where you have to touch 5 tumblers in the right order and in the right way to get them to stay up.

When I check out a playthrough of a game before purchase, I'll stop watching if I decide the game is something I want to play for myself. That wasn't the case here. Too much dialogue, not enough puzzles, and for a 3D game I expected larger environments. They could have done this game with their old 2D game engine and had more detail in it, and maybe more puzzles too.

Thanks for clarifying Jenny. I didn't think you had played it but then I wasn't sure.

Marian, I read something about the lip syncing and lag being fixed by some settings, maybe in some review I guess. I am one of those that doesn't care for too many setting options because I don't know what most of them do so I never know what settings to choose.

I did the cheap thing.
I enjoy watching Let's Plays of games I've already played.
But I also use them to decide if I want to play something.
And sometimes I use them for How-To's (for example with games like The Council).

It's not all that complicated. You can always ask for advice here if the way it runs seems suboptimal. You may not need to make any changes at all. My computer meets the system requirements including the video card, but my video card is outdated at this point, so I needed to make some changes.

a bunch of us have not got our game, i am one of them, the fex man has it, when i call all i got was yesterday and today, they even went on little jackolope , blog about it, so the ones with enjoy, because i do not know when or if it will get here.

They started shipping on Thursday; pretty much everyone who preordered should get their game by the end of next week. It also depends on how far away you live from Minnesota (where the games are shipping from) and the shipping method you chose.

you are right, this waiting is killing me.

Plus, this is the Christmas shipping nightmare called "peak" for FedEx, UPS and the USPS.

Let us know when your game arrives, family. I know how hard the waiting is for a game that you have wanted to play for so long.

i will let you guys know.

I hope your game arrives soon family!

so do i, i am not the only one,as i said a bunch of us still do not have our game.

In the past, HeR Interactive would start shipping the games out to folks who had preordered such that they would receive their games before the release date. Somehow I am not surprised that with the new HeR Interactive, they started shipping them two days after the game had been released. Where is the incentive for preordering now?

They haven't even released a press release for gaming outlets. They have no clue what they are doing there.

they are talking about it on the message boards, which are mess up.

My problem is playing the new game gives me motion sickness - after an hour I had to go to bed with a cracking headache. It's disappointing because I knew I could always play Nancy Drew games without feeling ill. I really did hope that this one would be okay. After reading a few comments I'm not sure I'm missing out on too much, but it's sad that I probably won't be able to play future games either. I will give it another try at some point... does anyone know if you really need to look up and down? I did a lot of it in the tutorial room, and there wasn't anything there anyway.

Yes. There are some locations where you find evidence high up or on the ground.


See if closing your eyes before clicking the movement arrows for turning or looking up or down helps at all. Yes it's a nuisance to have to do that.

I wonder if it would be possible to turn off the transitions to make the game more snapshot-like -- so you don't have your view being swiped sideways all the time while you're looking around a room. Is there a configuration file somewhere that would do it?

Maybe the option to turn off transitions should be something that HER adds to their next game.

it is coming saturday 12-14-19, they gave me a tracking number, and how to track it.

Okay, good to know.

Happy to hear it's on the way. You've been waiting so long!

so has a lot of people.

************************

Little Jackalope wrote this on the blog,

Little Jackalope says:

December 4, 2019 at 4:02 pm


"With the Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Thanksgiving sales, shipping may get backed up in postal. Please keep an eye out for your email that says it has shipped. There should be a tracking number included."

I have no idea what Black Friday (11/29), Cyber Monday (12/2) or Thanksgiving (11/28) have to do with a 12/03 release date, and FYI they posted this on Facebook:

"Please Note: Due to a high volume of orders and the holidays, our distribution partner is experiencing a delay in shipping out physical copies of Nancy Drew: Midnight in Salem. As soon as the game ships you will receive confirmation and tracking information. We anticipate that all the physical copies will be shipped by the end of the week. Thank you for your patience and we apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you for supporting HeR Interactive and Nancy Drew Games!"

I haven't got my physical copy yet either, or a shipping email. on the boards they are angry, it is a mess, they have some reviews.

the only thing i willl miss is the easter eggs and phone charms location, i hope they post it.

I don't know about Easter eggs, but being as there is no bonus edition of the game being released, there are no phone charms.

I took a chance & I've been playing the game for over 6 hours so haven't finished it yet.


I suffer from motion sickness too but what I found was that you can look all around & move by just using the on-screen directional arrows. (Reminded me of The Carol Reed games actually!) There are places where you do have to use the 3D facility where you do on occasion have to look up & down but just in certain locations i.e. not all the time.

I can't understand why it's taken another 4 + years for another ND game to turn up but I thought this game was far better, apart from Sea of Darkness, than the few games prior to that & I like this one a lot. It's got the ND feel & for me has, if not perfect, gone in the right direction.
The story's very good as is the voice-acting . It's perhaps not as puzzle heavy as some games but there was enough to fox me! Please don't be put off & give it a go.

I really appreciate your posting your opinions about the game, chrissie - thank you!

Yes, thanks chrissie!

they found one, i do not know about others.

Thank you chrissie and Jenny100. I will give it another try, but probably not soon. I feel kind of ill thinking about it. I have managed some other games with similar movements by playing in small bursts.

The thing that bugged me was the constant movement of the characters. The odd head movements and the way they flayed their arms. It looked like they were making claw hands for no apparent reason. And Joe looked as if he had to go to the bathroom all of the time. The constant swaying of the characters is also a distraction. Plus the characters arms etc go through other characters. Deirdre's neck is way too long and she looks like a bad photo shopped photo where someone else's head is put on another body.
There is way too much dialogue in the game. And you can't do as much snooping which I miss. There aren't many puzzles.

Plus, and this is just me, but I don't like having to play as Frank. I play these games to be Nancy Drew. But like I said, it's just a quirk with me.

The game just doesn't have the ND feel to it. It's boring. Plus navigation is awkward. Every time you wish to go somewhere another character is in your way. I understand that HeR wants their games on mobile so they switched to the Unity platform. But this game looks like it was thrown together at the last minute. There's no way they spend 5 years on this game.

The way HeR has treated fans over these last five years has lost them many fans. And they are still treating fans with the same disregard when it comes to the shipping of physical copies of the games. Those games should have been shipped before the release date of the digital games.

And incidentally my order for a physical copy (I have physical copies of all ND games) was cancelled with no reason given. HeR had charged my credit card. I sent them numerous emails which they ignored. Then I received an email telling me if I wanted a refund to return the game to them.
Seriously. How can I return a game I never received, from an order that was cancelled? HeR Interactive used to be a good company but then they fired most of the employees. I ended up getting the game on steam. But it seems unlikely that I will get my money back for the order that was cancelled. I have filed a claim with the credit card company. These shady business practices have made me decide I will never purchase anything from HeR again.

I pretty much agree with your critique of the game, jazzriver. I also don't believe they spent five years on this game; I would say about a year and a half would be closer to the mark. They outsourced the game to many different places including Austria and Vietnam and I think that the game was rushed in some ways.

And yes, I have been reading that many people have had their preordered physical copy canceled with no explanation.

One thing I do know is that those who *have* received physical copies of the game received insert cover art where the title of the game was missing on both the front and the side. Understandably, a lot of people were complaining about this - it's hard to believe that they could have been shipped out that way with no one having noticed this? If you don't believe that, however, then you must conclude that they were aware of this mistake and either didn't care or hoped no one would notice. At any rate, the insert looked like a high school project gone bad. People are now writing to the company asking for replacements.

All of this is by way of saying that perhaps they started canceling preorders in an effort to do damage control due to the above. Whatever the reason, it's just crazy, and to add to the madness people are saying that you can still order a physical copy of the game from their website.

I never thought I would find myself saying what I am about to say, because I *loved* the old HeR Interactive before they fired their entire development team and the new CEO took over, but this company has since managed to descend to pathological depths of dishonesty, gaslighting, and ineptitude - and it's almost scary at this point.

I find this so incredibly sad. I wish there were a way to bring the old company and its employees back. In the space of time that it took to get Midnight in Salem, we would have had nine (!) new Nancy Drew games. Just imagine!

Since I don't play the Nancy Drew games, I have refrained from commenting. But this just seems to be spiraling further and further down a rat-hole. The company seems to be lurching from one disaster to another and no one seems to be in charge. I too just find it incredibly sad - seems like an adventure game success story destroyed by incompetence.

Very sad to read all this. I am glad for sure now though, that I felt the physical game was too expensive to order.

Marian, did you finish the game now? How was the story? I'm really more of a "how the game plays" person but it helps it if the story is good.

I haven't had a chance to finish the game yet, oldbroad. I've been really busy this past week. I'll let you know when I do.

mine has not been cancelled , i would know, it is still on the way.

I am glad your order was not canceled, family!

it says Scheduled delivery:Monday 12/16/2019 by end of day,what ever it mean, i like the old tracking.

By end of day means by 7 or 8 pm where I live.

I got the game yesterday and just installed it. Anyone have it and started it yet? I'm hoping its worth the wait.

There are many negative opinions and one relatively positive one on the other MIS thread. Once you start, let us know what you think!

I just started and stuck already. lol Have no idea what to do in the room, it starts in.

I merged your post with our existing Midnight in Salem thread, TLC.

There are video walkthroughs on YouTube, but if you need more help than that, please post in the Hints forum.

no, mine is in transit, has not been updated.

Just found a review of the game here that does a very thorough job of covering the positives and the negatives.

marian, thank you, but all i want is my games the last update is on december 10, and Departed FedEx location
SHAKOPEE, MN, in transit, i ddo not know what is going on, are where it is.

I don't blame you for being upset, family. A lot of people who preordered are wondering why their games haven't arrived yet.

I thought you said earlier that the game was scheduled to be delivered today? Does it still tell you that on the tracking information?

If the game left Minnesota four days ago and is still in transit, I would think it will be arriving in Georgia quite soon if it hasn't already. Not sure if Fed Ex Ground delivers on the weekends where you are.

i am not sure either, but the last update is tuesday.

And it does not give an estimated date of delivery?

Sometimes when an item shows as being "in transit," I am not shown updates until it arrives in my state at the location where the package is going to be put on the truck and the driver will be going out for delivery.

If your game isn't here by Monday, you could try doing what this player did - this is from the HeR Interactive message board:



That way you could begin playing the game while waiting for your order to arrive.

i have a new date decebmer 16 end of the day, i email customer service, and that is what i got.

That makes sense to me if Fed Ex Ground doesn't deliver on the weekends; therefore, it should be arriving on Monday.

if you want i can give you the tracking number, but everytime i use it no updates.

No, that's okay; I don't think you will see another update now until Monday.

thank you very much, i will wait for monday.

My game arrived yesterday and when I checked the route it was amazing.
12-6 sent to FedEx Rogers,MN
12-9 William, IA FedEx
Iliff, CO FedEx
12-10 Henderson, CO FedEx
12-11 Aurora, CO FedEx
12-12 Denver,CO FedEx
12-13 Denver,CO USPS 4:42 am
12-13 Denver, CO USPS 3:47pm delivered

Have patience Family. They could have delivered it by Mule Train and it might have
got here faster.

They also told me it would be delivered on the 12th and then changed it to the 13th,
after I waited all day on the 12th for it. Also said sometime before the end of the day.

Was it worth the wait?.... I won't know for quite a while because I kinda need a new
puter to play it on. To order it, it was a few days before my Birthday in November and
it was the only present I got myself so I splurged. Yes it was probably more expensive than
it should have been, but I really wanted that #33 to go with the other 1 to 32 on the shelf.

From what I've read so far about the game, and I try not to read too much(don't want spoilers),
the thing I'm most disappointed with is the lack of puzzles. LOVE those puzzles and not real
big on dialog.

Sassy, be sure to come back and let us know what you think of the game after you have finished it.

Your package spent way too much time messing around in Colorado before it was delivered.

I highly doubt that HeR would just give a digital download with no questions asked. And if they did without reimbursing shipping charges then that person got taken.

Jazzriver, what I assumed the poster meant by that is that the company gave her a download link while she was waiting for her physical order to arrive; in other words, she would end up with both the physical copy and the download. I also assumed they had her order number so could see that she had indeed ordered the game (and paid for it) already.

The company, by the way, blocked/banned me from their Facebook page a few days ago. They apparently found what I was saying objectionable in some way. What I thought I was doing was speaking the truth, but I guess this was deemed unacceptable. Nothing like being infused with the holiday spirit.

my 19 game will not install, so i email them, with pictures, , that what the download go for.

Hmm, other people have complained about not getting their games and were not offered a digital download. I hope that they did offer the digital game.
But I don't think they would give someone two games for the price of one since they are obviously in financial trouble. Unless she is to sent the physical game back to them once it arrives.

I filed a claim for a refund and they did indeed question everything. They demanded all sorts in info in order to look into it.

I am not surprised that they blocked you. They have no tolerance for the truth.

Oh, nice, Marian. They are just oozing that Christmas spirit, aren't they!

no i meant i would only want 1 digital download. for nancy drew 19,, it will not install, i am not worried about mid any more,, all i have to do is bug them if it does not come monday, i can do that.

Oh I was referring to the person who claimed to have gotten a free MID digital download with no questions asked.

I hope you get 19 download. There are places you can get it cheaper than from HeR. As a last resort.

i just want a repplacement.

They can't handle the truth.

jazzriver i uninstall 16, 18, 19 of nancy drew, was able to reinstall 16 and 18, but 19, which i email them, i use cccleaners , did not work except sign me out, i was the one you thought was trying to get 2 games and i am not, i am going be ban if i have to rebuy it.

You may have to run it more than once.
Let ccleaner fix all registry problems it finds. Then run it again and let it fix problems.
Repeat until it finds no more registry problems.

Also if there is a game folder for #19 (Castle Malloy) left after uninstalling it, be sure to delete the game folder manually before running ccleaner.

Is this a game on disc or a download?

And are you running the REGISTRY cleaner, family? It sounds like you just ran the regular cleaner because you said it signed you out. That won't help. As Jenny says, you have to run the REGISTRY cleaner.

it finally work, i was clicking easy clean, but 1 of my disc is bad.

Wow!!! Just wow.

never mind i finally install it, i uninstall 24 then install 24, then the game and now it is install.

No, I know you're not the person who claimed to have gotten a free download no questions asked. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
That person was on the HeR forums. I just don't believe that HeR would give her a free download (because she hadn't received her physical copy) with no questions asked.

As to your problem, yeah HeR should definitely help you out.

Why do I fave a feeling that we are never going to see another Nancy Drew again, I think we are seeing the beginning of the end of Her Interactive. There is no way I'm buying this game, there is just too much garbage floating around about it. I have all the others & will play them occasionally.

Scheduled delivery:Monday 12/16/2019 by end of day
IN TRANSIT
Departed FedEx location
SHAKOPEE, MN
GET STATUS UPDATES
FROM
LINO LAKES, MN US

TO
MARIETTA, GA US

Travel History
Shipment Facts

Tuesday , 12/10/201910:17 pmSHAKOPEE, MN
Departed FedEx location
Monday , 12/09/20195:14 pmSHAKOPEE, MN
Arrived at FedEx location
Saturday , 12/07/20197:39 amSHAKOPEE, MN
At local FedEx facility
1:19 amSAINT PAUL, MN
Departed FedEx location
Friday , 12/06/20194:34 amSAINT PAUL, MN
Arrived at FedEx location
Thursday , 12/05/20192:12 pm
Shipment information sent to FedEx, nothing by the 11 of december are today scan by fedex.

Looks like it is supposed to be delivered today.

i wish fedex update it, i hope they know how..

my Scheduled delivery:Pending, i email for updates, i hate fedex.

I hope it's just being held up due to the holiday and not lost!

I have never had problems with Fed Ex; on the contrary, they have always been very reliable. Not sure what's going on with your order.

call fedex coming on saturday.

That stinks.

that is the best they can do, fedex is runnung slow because of the hoildays.

Like Marian, I've never had problems with FedEx, but that's just crazy!

My game is also caught up somewhere in the Fedex network. It says its out for delivery, but it said that yesterday too. I paid more than $9 shipping which should've been more then enough to mail it priority mail at the PO and it would've been here in three or four days.

I know its been said over and over again but this whole situation is massively frustrating.

That is terrible, Outlast. I don't understand why this is happening and why this seems to be affecting so many people who ordered from Digital River.

That's the question. Why did it take so long to even begin shipping physical copies? I still have no physical copy or a refund. And have had no response from HeR.

I wish I had something useful to suggest. Jazzriver, I assume you have called Digital River and spoken to them?

no i called 1 (800) 463-3339 and they help me out it is fedex phone number, and updated it,
Monday , 12/16/201911:40 pmFEDEX SMARTPOST OSSEO, MN
Arrived at FedEx location
Tuesday , 12/10/201910:17 pmSHAKOPEE, MN
Departed FedEx location
Monday , 12/09/20195:14 pmSHAKOPEE, MN
Arrived at FedEx location
Saturday , 12/07/20197:39 amSHAKOPEE, MN
At local FedEx facility
1:19 amSAINT PAUL, MN
Departed FedEx location
Friday , 12/06/20194:34 amSAINT PAUL, MN
Arrived at FedEx location
Thursday , 12/05/20192:12 pm
Shipment information sent to FedEx

I looked at your shipping information, family, and the problem seems to be that Fed Ex Smartpost is involved.

I found this site here - check out the customer reviews and complaints - keep scrolling down the page until you get to the customer comments. I knew there had to be something else going on or you would have received your package by now.

Smartpost is often involved these days. I've never had a problem with it. But it doesn't usually go to smartpost until it is ready to go out for delivery as far as I recall.

That's good to know, oldbroad. I hadn't heard of it before. Apparently the post office ends up delivering it. I know UPS sometimes drops things off at the post office, who then deliver it, but I didn't know that Fed Ex is doing it as well.

thank you very much, now i know the problem, but i think her used it.

Well, I can't know for sure, but Smartpost is a different thing than Fed Ex Ground all the way to your house (which is what I was assuming was going on).

Yes, it shouldn't be turned over to the post office until it's in your area ready to be delivered to you. Your tracking looks like it's still in MN being turned over to the post office. ?? That's not right and why the package has been in MN all this time is not right either.

Right. That makes no sense at all.

i do not know.

Fed Ex is a nightmare where I live! UPS gets it here in no time, Fed Ex is 4 times longer. Sorry you all are having troubles. You should not have had to wait so long for your copy.

I have emailed and called. They put me on hold and forgot about me. I think they did it on purpose. lol.

i am glad my package is enjoying mn, as soon as it get here, the tour is over..