#key spoilers

[queerdagny]

I really prefer to imagine Ned sitting and staring at a wall the whole time while Nancy is out on a case

[henrikvanderswoon]

the accuracy of the settings in this game is everything to me

[naancypants]

Nancy, every few seconds, while actively getting chased:

[actualvelociraptor]

I love the game grumps "i shot and i missed" easter egg. best part of the game

[eye-of-the-phoenix]

I found this right after finding the note from Leo about feeding his cat and I'm starting to think there may be cats in my future...

[naancydrew]

ok. we need to speak about elka and nancy.

honestly i didnt give a fuck about elka even tho her hyped her up so much i was like oh ok. hacker i guess.

but them making elka a character foil to nancy on how they dealt with their moms dying from being part of secret organizations...... elka thinking she would understand. nancy saying kate investigated a crime when she died and elka saying you will take after her. that was insane.

then the crazy ass moment when nancy says there's one last puzzle. "you were the puzzle" . the dialogue box went away so quickly my brain didnt fully process what she said until a couple seconds later and i jsut had to sit there with my mouth open

...... DOES THAT NOT SOUND ROMANTIC AS FUCK???? HUUUHHH???? i know she just meant grabbing the ring but . GIRL????? nancy calling someone a puzzle sounds like the most romantic and tragic shit in the world they cant spring this on me during the denouement

[daretoplay]

Game grumps reference found in Mystery of the Seven Keys

[papenniesandbentoboxes]

I support women's rights and women's wrongs

[henrikvanderhussy]

All of the places where I found and pet Mariáš <3

Bonus:

Tragically you can't pet her in this scene with Leo, but you can still look!

[poorlydrawnnancydrew]

[detectivecatsuitdrew]

I finally played through Mystery of the Seven Keys! Wanted to type out my initial thoughts and whatnot, spoilers below!

I managed to avoid spoilers for this game so I was able to go in completely blind. I tried to avoid reviews as well to try to come in with no expectations. Overall, I say it’s a decent game. Not my favorite, but definitely a massive improvement over MID.

In terms of gameplay and graphics, WOW. So so much better than MID. I really liked the environment and getting to roam around. Just like with MID, I did suffer some motion sickness at first, but it went away after a little bit. And I really appreciate that they offer the two different modes.

In terms of characters, it did kind of feel like a lot and I forgot about Oskar half of the time lol but again, better executed than MID. Love Patricie and Radek. I also hope we get to see Agent Zane again.

I think the balance between puzzles vs dialogue/character interaction in comparison to other games (like MID having way too much dialogue vs puzzles and RAN having way too many puzzles vs dialogue).

Speaking of puzzles, maybe it’s just me, but I thought a few of them were fairly difficult and not super intuitive. I really enjoyed the cyber block, puppet, and the alchemy puzzles. But like the puzzle to open the book in the cafe? Again, maybe it’s just me, but that did not make sense to me at all. I really struggled with the Zlaty safe puzzle too.

(I guess the captcha when trying to open the DEGAS file is a puzzle, and it wasn’t hard albeit a bit annoying, but that jumpscare GOT ME. I jumped lol)

In terms of mini games, I like the coffee making. It’s no snack shop boss but I enjoyed it more than Johnny cakes. It reminded me a lot of the tea remedy mini game in MID.

The story/plot was decent. If LIE and CUR had a baby, it would be KEY. Little splash of SPY in there too. I did figure Elka was behind the cyber portion of it pretty much immediately, especially when she took the laptop and Nancy’s phone to “wipe.” (Like come on Nancy you know better than that!!! Geez) and then doubled down on that suspicion when it’s revealed Elka lost her mom almost essentially the same way Nancy lost hers. I did feel it was a little too obvious, but I’m glad she wasn’t the sole culprit and I’m even more glad that the culprits had concrete motives that made sense. I was worried it was going to be Patricie or something 😂

I understand why they didn’t include more phone conversations, but I kind of missed them! Though tbh I know when I replay games, I don’t really call Nancy’s phone contacts all that much, so it’s not a huge deal for me.

I thought the final confrontation was pretty on par for a Nancy Drew game, but the final conclusion is lackluster. I miss the letter summaries with the photos/cut away to images to what’s happening. I think it’s more visually interesting/concise that way, but I do appreciate that the final conversation between Adela, Zane, Marek, and Radek is more diegetic/natural.

Idk if anybody else feels this way, but what is it with Ned??? Is it Nancy trying to be a better girlfriend??? Make her more relatable, fleshed out as a character? Idk It felt out of place to me. And I find it so odd that three consecutive games are hitting heavy on tension between them. In SEA, we have their anniversary drama, in MID there’s that weird jealousy of Frank Hardy/that random girl in the background of one of his phone calls, and now we have Nancy really emphasizing with him how much she misses him and whatnot. I swear, if HeR continues to make games, I really want Ned to make an appearance!!! I was really hoping he’d be in this one, but there was no place for him honestly so understandable.

Okay I think I’m done rambling. These are just some initial thoughts and I don’t really know anyone personally who cares about ND games, so figured I’d post here.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading~!

[queerdagny]

ah yes a post it note, the most threatening of the stationery

[henrikvanderswoon]

firstly

i can't believe this is a starbucks irl

secondly

there's canonically a sex machine museum down there

[naancypants]

It still sends me that HeR marketed Radek as some kind of conventional dreamy heartthrob... like your honor that is the nerdiest, silliest, most awkward, neurodivergent little guy I've ever seen in a Nancy Drew game bdjxjxbxj. And I love him

[heytherenancydrew]

My first attempt playing KEY:

[professorhotchkissesta]

The way Nancy opens a centuries old puzzle box and immediately YEETS the puppet stored inside it. Like. That puppet is gone. Lost to the world. Kept safe for centuries only to be absolutely decimated by an amateur detective in mom jeans