Here's where the series really starts to get going thanks to a decent set of characters, an overall fun plot and having the game stick to one central location makes for much more nuanced traversal.

That said, theres still a lot of clunk here. The interface needs a touch-up, graphics are still on the wonk side and theres still a lot of needless repetitive fiddling with locks and things that require multiple clicks each time when in reality streamlining the process would be better.

Oh... Also... Dont touch the GBA version. Its fine as a port, everything is present in a surprising manner but theres no in-game saving and the use of a chapter/password system on a game so open-ended doesnt work at all and just ends with random progress losses/gains.

Since I talked about what genre these games are, and some of their gameplay mechanics, in my pervious review of Nancy Drew: Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake, I'm going to mainly focus on the story going forward reviewing this series unless there are extreme changes in gameplay. That being said these reviews will not be very long most likely because of these reasons. So, let's get started.

The story in this game takes place in, prepare yourself it's a shocker, a haunted mansion. There have been terrible accidents happening in the mansion and Nancy's... family member or friend? I don't know because I'm not really familiar with the characters in the books series, but they send her to their friend Rose's house to help with renovations and to solve the mystery. As you explore the house, you'll hear and see some creepy things amongst the house like a painting blinking, or shadowy figures. At first, I felt like this added some eeriness to the game, but quickly faded as I was constantly reminded by Nancy, like in the previous game, that she's a skeptic when it comes to the supernatural. The way I see it why I should believe that there are ghosts in this story if the main character is doesn't believe it in the slightest and is out to prove otherwise. Personally, it kind of just sucks the fun out of it.

The actual characters in the game were alright, but outside of Abby I didn't find them as interesting as the characters in Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake. I also felt that way about the story too even though the game is set in a haunted mansion. I felt the story was somewhat dull and when it came time to once again reveal who the culprit was it was a complete let down, not to mention very obvious. I was not at all surprised when it turned out to be a specific character. It was a real eye-roller.

Overall:

I think fans of the games/books will like this more than I did. I don't know why, but I just really couldn't get into this entry in this series. Hopefully the next game will be better.

Pros:
+ decent voice acting at times
+ games offers hints through phone calls

Cons:
-lame mystery
-frustrating controls

I LOVE THIS GAME. Does it deserve 4 stars in the scheme of "video games in general"? haha no. But it is absolutely a four star Nancy Drew game and that's what matters here.

This was the first one I ever played in the series, like 11 years ago. I remember when I got the "LEAVE THE MANSION NOW" note, I got so scared that I turned the computer off. Core memory.

I almost wish it was a little longer and had a bit more depth to the characters' stories and stuff? 'cause the potential was definitely there. Not for Louis though, he's a pompous mansplainer, he can get outta here.

My biggest complaint was that it was FRICKIN hard to install. The only reason I didn't just buy it on Steam is that I own FOUR physical copies of it and I was gonna make ONE of them work, dangit. Also don't get me started on that wood tile puzzle where you have to drag the pieces back and forth until you find the EXACT place they fit into.

Anyway, once I've replayed the whole series, this will probably still be in my top 10.

okay, so, do you remember that bit in metroid prime that everyone hates where the game is about to be over and they make you go retrace your steps and find a bunch of doodads before you can finish the game? nancy drew: hidden in a haunted mansion also does this except there are many chances to get game overs because people catch you snooping through their shit while you're looking for a character from the chinese alphabet and fuckin sorry abby one of them is in your room and who the fuck am i gonna tell your secret to anyway???? i am friends with your business partner i do not want your business to fail, jesus

this game has a lot of opportunities to get game overs, basically all of which are rendered funny instead of frustrating by the game's surprisingly excellent checkpointing for a game from 2000, which means it's a lot more fun to intentionally crawl into a pitch black fireplace passage or untie a chandelier like an asshole just to see what will happen (it turns out only one game over i found leads to a gruesome death in this game lol usually your moral character is insulted and you get kicked out because in this game NOBODY present knows Nancy is undercover).

and that's the rub with this one: you kinda gotta make your own fun? it's not nearly as much of a CHORE to go through as Stay Tuned For Danger, but it suffers from similar core problems like an interminably boring cast (only this time the bad guy sucks too) and really languid sense of pacing. puzzles are better, sort of, in that they're placed more naturally throughout the gamespace AND the narrative (i will miss you, millie the eccentric millionaire prop room manager riddler), but they're also mostly pretty bad lol so who can say if they're better or worse? I can, they're better, but there's PLENTY of room to improve.

similarly the plot seems like it might actually be building to something cool, and there are certainly moments, especially early on, that are legitimately /scary/. there's an excellent buildup of dread immediately after the supernatural element of the game seems like its been established as silly and joking that persists up until it's...casually discarded, and the true stakes of the narrative are revealed to be entirely unrelated to most of what you've been doing. sure, you and the villain are after the same thing, and the historical background of the story is both interesting and sad, but this is a haunted old mansion that's falling apart, and I'M the one creeping around secret tunnels spying on people? the villain doesn't even KNOW about them?????

the consequence for failure during the climax is a guy walks away from you with a suitcase full of money that nobody else even knew about. nobody gets hurt, nobody dies, and the accidents that have been plaguing renovation work on your friend's burgeoning bed and breakfast will stop because the perpetrator got what they wanted and left. This, too, is a microcosm of all of the issues with Message in a Haunted Mansion; at every turn the game goes out of its way to eliminate stakes, to destroy its own carefully cultivated atmosphere, and with nothing to show at the end of it. Legitimately baffling choices throughout.

as much as i've lambasted it though, /i can see it/. fucking around in this mansion is fun as hell. this is a good video game mansion. it's brightly lit, and small, and creepy to inhabit. Her Interactive was playing with the limitations of the point n click fmv format in very cute ways to mess with my expectations of what was possible. one-time custom animations everywhere, just to freak me out; sections of the game where it was unclear if i was under a time limit or not (i was lol, got kicked out of the house whoops). there's ambition here, and the shape of a good formula for these is slowly coming together, bit by bit. hopefully they'll continue to improve (and hopefully the leaps in quality will start getting bigger lol)

PREVIOUSLY: STAY TUNED FOR DANGER
NEXT TIME: TREASURE IN THE ROYAL TOWER

ALL NANCY DREW PIECES