Ranking All the Nancy Drew PC Games from WORST to BEST with 600 Detectives!! | Nancy Drew Analysis

[@IWish2500]

Interesting how the first Hardy Boys physical appearance was an ultra strong contender, while the other two after that were strongly at the bottom

[@WizardKittenYT]

@IWish2500 yeah, execution of the characters definitely matters more than just having them!

[@karricompton]

I’m down for a good Hardy Boys participation game! Do them right!

[@BarryWolfeMusicPgh]

I'm a 61 year old father of three girls. We played all these games when my girls were little, and we're actually playing some of them again now that they're adults. These games mean a lot to me, too. I really enjoyed your video! I agreed with most of your viewers' picks, but my pick for best of the series (not a household consensus), is Ghost of Thornton Hall. In addition to all the pluses you cited, what sets it above all the others for me is not just the characters, but the plotting of their relationships with each other. The mystery revolved not just around places or puzzles, but how all the characters interacted among themselves. It was almost as though Nancy had walked into a novel. What stayed with me after that game was not this or that jump scare, or cool puzzle; it was the "grandeur" of the characters and their story. The Gothic theme could have easily been camp (as, for my money, it does at times in Crystal Skull). Here it was rendered to perfection. Around our house, Labyrinth of Lies is a guilty pleasure. The plot is nonsense, and the characters are nuts (at least not to the level of Bess in Shattered Medallion, in which she's off her meds); but it looks fantastic and most of the puzzles are great. There's something for most everyone to like in these games! Thanks again for your efforts!

[@jcro666]

Glad to see Legend of the Crystal Skull get some well-deserved recognition!

[@WizardKittenYT]

@jcro7918 yeah, I was impressed by its place!

[@fadalerabrasool3563]

that's my first nancy drew game. the opening was what made me want to play it because sooooo spoookyyy

[@Hunkules09]

Amen. It’s a near perfect game. Definitely doesn’t deserve to be overlooked at all!!

[@tigathon]

Secret of the Scarlet Hand is my all time favorite ND game, which I know I kind of an unpopular opinion, but I’m an art and art history major and this game really tickles my museum loving fancy!!

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@tigathon SSH is such a solid game!!

[@joshmitchell9477]

I am a history buff myself and Scarlet Hand is in my top 5! I’m replaying it again right now!

[@laurenm9697]

I was a little surprised by this! Some of my favourites ranked a lot lower than I thought. But as always so happy blue moon is appreciated 🫶 love that game! X

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@laurenm9697 which ones ranked lower than you expected, out of curiosity?? 😊

[@laurenm9697]

@WizardKittenYT alibi by ashes was the biggest surprise for me, everyone i talk to loves it! But then again I can understand people not getting over the changing characters all the time 🤣 Silent Spy is another I was surprised by!!! Those two are firmly in my top 5 🫶

[@Aeriall.]

I just want to say thank you. I'm a fellow detective who's been going through a really hard time lately where my stress level has been astronomical, but your videos have really been helping me keep it under control.

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@Aeriall. I'm so sorry things have been tough lately! I'm glad the videos have helped! Sending you positive vibes and support!

[@Aeriall.]

​@@WizardKittenYTThank you, that means a lot! I'll be okay.

[@terrikoop416]

I was listening to this list and thinking “where did HeR go wrong?” If we’re being honest, beside GTH and SEA, most of the new were considered the worst. I think with those games we tend to have a hard time seeing the forest through the trees. They tend to get picked apart and, as I’ve said before, we are harder on certain flaws than the games we love. For example, elements such as character design, clunky movements, lack of things to do… etc will get graded harshly in those games and will not in games we love. I say this because I want to know where the real issues are. What is it that makes those games so bad and where does HeR need to focus their efforts? This list helped that so much because what I saw in ratings are the characters and story line (story line includes things to do as well as interact with). It seems that people prefer likable, well developed characters and a well developed story line that includes good playability to anything else. We see this because games like MHM are beloved unlike others. It seems that all the little quirks are forgivable if the game is executed correctly. I think HeR probably needs to focus on their writing above all else. We don’t need hyper realistic and large environments. We need good and well developed story lines and characters. Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox.

[@WizardKittenYT]

Well said!! My thoughts exactly!

[@katiecramer5597]

I wish GTH was a bit higher, but I’m so happy it made the top ten! Definitely one of the best modern era games! That spook factor mixed in with the soundtrack, chills. All I can say.

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@katiecramer5597 agreed!!

[@olivialeezeh8076]

wow thanks for making this video! seems like a lot of work compiling all the data but its so interesting seeing other sleuths' input!!

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@olivialeezeh8076 it was a big one!! I'm so glad you liked it!

[@jacksampsonforever]

SKULL!!!! It beat out two of the "cute animal" games!! Woo!! TY, C

[@WizardKittenYT]

Yes!! Impressively high!

[@deedeeschecklie1702]

This was such a fun video, and awesome editing work! 🥳 Binge rewatched a few of your older videos after watching this one, and that gave me a video idea: you could make an analysis of Mystery of the Seven Keys based on the analyses/rankings you've done over the years of different games of the series, like how would you evaluate the culprit and their motive (evil, not evil, etc), the love language of the characters, stuff like that 🧐 I think lots of us fellow detectives will be excited to see where you place the new game in the context of your older videos on the series, and also will fit in perfectly in the current "revisiting older content" season we're having

[@WizardKittenYT]

@deedeeschecklie1702 that's a great idea! And thank you for noticing the editing, I worked extra hard on this one! 🤗

[@Civman-yr8lb]

I'm surprised Mystery of the Seven Keys was so low. I wish HER would just have the common sense to go back to making new games in the style of the old ones from the early 2000s. It would probably be cheaper too unless somehow its more expensive than rendering full 3d environments. They could even use the old engine. It's clear that the only people interested in these games are the long time fans, who would buy them regardless of how dated they would look.

[@WizardKittenYT]

@Civman-yr8lb yeah, they really need to consider their fan base when making decisions moving forward...

[@loganswhite6645]

I think just sadly the old engine is just well too… old! While not my all time fav, KEY was solid to me and made me more optimistic about future games, so I’m excited to see where the company goes from here!

[@Fluffymonkeyem]

I actually preferred Midnight in Salem to Mystery of the 7 keys 😅. Don't get me wrong, it's still bad, (and wouldn't even run at first for me) but there was just so much frustration with KEY and so many glitches. The puzzles were insanely hard at times (I'm looking at you gemstones and any puzzle in the alchemy room).

[@nghtblm]

I really enjoyed participating in this survey & feel like most of the rankings are spot on! One difference I noticed with myself is I may have ranked Deadly Device, Tomb of the Lost Queen and Labyrinth of Lies higher for their immersive environments and challenging puzzles possibly over characters / plot...

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@nghtblm yeah, the modern era games are often ranked a little more harshly!

[@brennathompson1855]

I also appreciate hard puzzles and ambience over plot and characters. Once I know who the culprit is, the only reasons to replay are escapist immersion and a mental challenge 😊

[@Fluffymonkeyem]

I really appreciate how much work must have gone into this! It was really fun to see the comparisons between your rankings and the fellow detectives. One that was really low that I rank high is STFD. It's a lot because of nostalgia as it was the second game I played, but there is more too it. Sure it has limited puzzles, but I love what's there. Some scenes like the bomb scene are really tense. The location is fun with an amazing soundtrack. The dialogue is strong, and there is so much detail! I really like the day to night mechanism too. It really shows how even with so much consensus, there can still be a lot of variation in taste.

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@Fluffymonkeyem yeah, it's a shame it's so early in the series because it really is a great game!

[@samanthamanuele655]

I've been waiting for this!!!!!

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@samanthamanuele655 it was so fun to put together!

[@Kenzie1111-i7c]

Appreciate you putting this together! ❤

[@WizardKittenYT]

Thank you!! 🤗

[@NicheReferences]

I have 4 top-tier untouchable ND games, two of which are overwhelming fan faves (TRT, TRN), and two of which are… not (CAP, SPY). I’m glad to see that CAP is getting more appreciation now, bc I have never understood the dislike for it- great characters, decent story, solid puzzles. On the other hand, I do get why a lot of people don’t love SPY. But I love it 🤷🏻‍♀️ On the flip side, I’m always surprised at how beloved DDI and CAR are. They never quite grabbed me in the nostalgia like the other classic era games.

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@NicheReferences isn't it interesting?! I love seeing the individual variation!

[@ryanpepper8188]

@@NicheReferences I appreciate Spy and rank it higher than most. The spy thriller vibes, adventure and emotional connection to Nancy's mom sell it for me. Captive Curse I'm not a huge fan of because it revolves so much around a monster than doesn't really exist, and I prefer some reality in the games. Now I thought if they had ended it with Nancy being driven away in a car with a monster lurking out of the trees growling as the car drives off I would probably rank it higher because then you don't know when the monster was real or when it was Anya dressed up, and it would make for an interesting ending.

[@Fluffymonkeyem]

I'm replaying CAP and for me it's suuuper dialogue heavy. I also get lost in the halls and the forest, so I'd rate it lower down. But I agree on DDI. It's just okay for me.

[@mollyblasingame3212]

castle malloy deserved better 😭

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@mollyblasingame3212 I personally agree!

[@calicat420]

I agree with most of these, last train to blue moon canyon is my absolute favorite. The only major thing I disagree with is I think danger by design should have been higher on the list but that’s just my personal opinion!

[@ryanpepper8188]

Prioritizing an exciting story, lush environments and/or more adventure style games with very little character switching, I tried to make my list objective and subjective both. Also with the exception of Blackmoor, my top games also have my favorite endings. I don't include Salem or Keys because I haven't played them, but watching them on stream they would probably be at the very bottom. 32. The Shattered Medallion 31. Alibi in Ashes 30. The Deadly Device 29. Secrets Can Kill 28. Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake 27. The Captive Curse 26. Creature of Kapu Cave 25. Secret of the Old Clock 24. Stay Tuned for Danger 23. Shadow at the Waters Edge 22. Tomb of the Lost Queen 21. Secret of the Scarlet Hand 20. Ransom of the Seven Ships 19. Message in a Haunted Mansion 18. Trail of the Twister 17. White Wolf of Icicle Creek 16. The Haunted Carousel 15. Haunting of Castle Malloy 14. Sea of Darkness 13. Ghost of Thornton Hall 12. Curse of Blackmoor Manor 11. Labyrinth of Lies 10. Danger on Deception Island 9. The Final Scene 8. Treasure in the Royal Tower 7. The Silent Spy 6. Secret of Shadow Ranch 5. Warnings at Waverly Academy 4. Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon 3. Danger by Design 2. Legend of the Crystal Skull 1. The Phantom of Venice

[@katherinelennon668]

Phantom of Venice ranked really high!! I hope you’re happy it’s getting love ❤

[@WizardKittenYT]

I'll still never get over DOG and MHM being in your bottom 10, but I understand 😅 Super solid top 10!

[@ryanpepper8188]

@ Both terrific games, but maybe I need more action/adventure :) Scarlet Hand I wish had more action and creep factor as well.

[@sophinda6292]

Labyrinth is quite high for you! That may be the highest I've seen it for most people! I can never work out if I love or hate that game!

[@ryanpepper8188]

@ Yes I'm a fan! It took me several play throughs to master all the puzzles, but now I can enjoy it for the drama, fun plot and ending :) It's a high stakes game similar to Venice that's another bonus.

[@fadalerabrasool3563]

My top ten as of recently Wizard at waverly academy Final scene Shadow at the waters edge Curse of blackmoor manor Message in a haunted mansion Phantom of venice Ghost of thorton hall Alibi in Ashes The silent spy Danger by design

[@WizardKittenYT]

Ooh, all such exciting games!

[@truecrimecafe90]

I never understand why Thornton Hall gets so much love. The story doesn't really make sense to me and I didn't find the characters memorable at all. But I seem to be an outlier haha.

[@brennahbauman468]

I used to agree with you when i originally played this game when it first came out. Could not get into it and found it scary for my younger self. But, I replayed it this year after many years and it completely switched for me. I like it a lot more now as an adult and find the story so intriguing and beautifully sad. Still wouldn't say top 10, but it moved up many spots!

[@sophinda6292]

All the things you list for why GTH is great I think it massively fails at, which is why it will always be in my bottom five and is comparable with MID. I started playing these games in my 20s, so have absolutely no nostalgia for any of them, but its clear to me that 9-13 and WAC/SAW are the pinnacle of ND games, generally speaking. Utterly astonished SPY did as well as it did too! Thank you for all the time and effort you put in to collating this information and making the video. I'm really chuffed for you that you got so many people taking part!

[@WizardKittenYT]

@sophinda6292 love these thoughts! I was so excited so many people participated!

[@ryanpepper8188]

@@sophinda6292 I want Spy higher along with Design and Labyrinth! All exciting stories and adventure in my book. I can see why people may not like Twister though.

[@thefairybug40]

I'm so early that it feels criminal. EDIT: Yeeeaaah, I was one of the detractors for WAV and SHA. I just don't get it, particularly for WAV.

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@thefairybug40 early bird gets to know all the juicy details first!

[@alyailithyia]

I must be one of the only detectives who dislikes deception island and the Haunted carousel 🤣 but I did love stay tuned for danger and most of the very old games. Those are just so unique and nostalgic with amazing soundtracks compared to the newer games. Ghost of blackmoor and treasure in the royal tower will always be #1 for me!

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@alyailithyia ooh, I'd love to know what doesn't work for you for DDI! I love that one!

[@rain0450]

I’m surprised Danger By Design is so low. It’s in my top 3. I guess everyone has different tastes.

[@ryanpepper8188]

Some initial thoughts before posting my list separately: It's interesting Shadow Ranch swept the Oscars post this year, but Last Train won out here. Also in keeping with the Oscars results, Crystal Skull seems to be gaining in popularity which I love (it's my #2 game). Surprised Waters Edge ranks this high despite a good story and characters, to me it gets bogged down by some of the puzzles and the length/pacing of the game. Same with Alibi in Ashes, the character switching is annoying, disorganized, and the interactive town map with the fast track car gives me anxiety. Glad Phantom is a top 15, but for me it deserves top 10 status also, and Danger by Design at least top 15 that's an underrated game all around in my view. Both of those games I have in my top 3 as well🕵🏼‍♀️

[@WizardKittenYT]

I was surprised by TRN too! And it was a pretty sizable lead! Interesting to see!

[@Iwona886]

I am quite new to Nancy Drew games (I started playing a few years ago, not in my childhood) so I don't have any sentimental feelings attached to any game. And for me, the game I rank the lowest is Message in the Haunted Mansion... It was so boring to me and it was the only ND game I did not enjoy playing and just wanted it to end. Luckily it was short. I have to say, I didn't play the worst ranked ND games like Midnight in Salem or Shuttered Medalion, I played 19 of them so far. And the top 5 for me is: 1. Shadows at the water's edge, 2. Curse of Blackmoor Manor, 3. Sea of Darkness, 4. The secret of Shadow Ranch, 5. Ghost of Thornton Hall. I would rank Last Train at maybe 10th place.

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@Iwona886 it's always so fun to see rankings for people who can take out the nostalgia factor!

[@karricompton]

I so appreciate that you played the corresponding soundtracks as you spoke about each game. Points for you. I must be in the minority-I would trade out TOT for CRE in the ranking. I would have put HAU higher and DAN lower, that’s just me. I can’t bear for iDED to be ranked so low. 🤷‍♀️ All that said, I mostly expected most of the rankings.

[@WizardKittenYT]

Thank you!! Lots of editing work, so I appreciate that!

[@itsmeash5324]

I'm pretty sure I'm one of the only ones of the 600 that doesn't have MID as the worst. lol.

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@itsmeash5324 we love a hot take 👏

[@ellenn6246]

As a new Nancy Drew fan (doing Thornton Hall now, so I got 6 left) I was happy to see Crystal Skull so high up. Before playing it I looked at your old ranking and it seemed like it was mid-tier Nancy but it turned out to be one of my favorites. So nice to see it crack the top 10 now instead. But I also loved Castle Malloy and hated Shadow Ranch so tastes vary wildly.

[@WizardKittenYT]

@ellenn6246 so fun to meet new ND fans!! I'm always so happy when the games find new people!

[@brunette3cookie]

Games 4, 5, 7, and 23 are on my top 5 🤷🏻‍♀️ Captive Curse is underrated, as is Raid. The game opens with a Monty Python joke, what more could you want in an opening?

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@brunette3cookie it's been nice to see CAP get more love over the years!

[@alexandrabailey9341]

Some of it seems to be what you are willing to tolerate. I'd rather hate a game than be bored by it. So kapu cave, shattered medallion, and trail of the twister are at the bottom for me while midnight in salem is higher up

[@WizardKittenYT]

Ooh interesting! That's a good point!

[@GraemeCree]

I'm not sure if going by points is the best way to do it, as it seems to blend exposure and quality, and games 1, 2, 20 and 34 are going to be handicapped. When I ran online Star Trek episode polls, it used the same system (1-5 stars), but every episode was given a straight average, followed by number of votes received. People could decide for themselves if a 4.2 rating based on 100 votes was better than a 4.1 rating based on 400 votes. Another thing I tried to do was run Standard Deviations to see how controversial an episode was. An episode with a hundred votes, all of them 3's is, of course, much less controversial than one with fifty 1 votes and fifty 5 votes, even though they would both have the same average. I'd also like to know things like how many games respondents had played, on average. A person who had played Secrets Can Kill and nothing else, might give it a 5 rating because they have nothing to compare it to. They'd probably have a different rating if they'd played a dozen games.

[@WizardKittenYT]

@GraemeCree fair points. As I started crunching the numbers, they started to pretty accurately reflect what I've anecdotally learned to be community opinions over the years. So for a fun little video, I deemed them sufficient 👍

[@sophinda6292]

HOW... did CAP and VEN beat ICE? 😲

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@sophinda6292 impressive, right?!

[@ryanpepper8188]

@@sophinda6292 Well Venice should be high lol But yes Captive Curse is just okay for me. I'm a bigger fan of White Wolf again after another play through. It made my top 15.🕵🏼‍♀️ Where do you place them ?

[@i.linevich6284]

Can understand why Castle Malloy would be so far fetched. Overall immersion is pretty good, but the main villain... I dunno. Always felt it was a little too much.

[@WizardKittenYT]

Totally understandable!!

[@ryanpepper8188]

Some initial thoughts before posting my list separately: It's interesting Shadow Ranch swept the Oscars post this year, but Last Train won out here. Also in keeping with the Oscars results, Crystal Skull seems to be gaining in popularity which I love (it's my #2 game). Surprised Waters Edge ranks this high despite a good story and characters, to me it gets bogged down by some of the puzzles and the length/pacing of the game. Same with Alibi in Ashes, the character switching to me is annoying, disorganized, and the interactive town map with the fast track car gives me anxiety. Glad Phantom is a top 15, but for me it deserves top 10 status also, and Danger by Design at least top 15 that's an underrated game all around in my view. Both of those games I have in my top 3 as well🕵🏼‍♀️

[@terrikoop416]

I was thinking the same thing about SHA and TRN! I was fully expecting SHA to win #1. So glad TRN did though. The game is so good.