Ive always found the Nancy Drew games to be at their best when they trap you in a confined single location and this proves my point by quite some margin.

This is probably the one more people think about when they think Nancy Drew games and its not without reason, the cold castle is full of gothic style creepy horror but at the same time theres plenty to see and do around the various walls and gardens with silly minigames, bird feeding and other puzzles that, despite being occasionally obtuse, really try and get away from some of the repeated puzzle tropes in previous games.

If there is one big problem with this one, its the characters. Most of the limited cast just are kinda dull and they very much take a backseat to the overall atmosphere and Rodger Corman-esque Poe plotting.

So yeah, while nowadays I wouldnt start with this one for newcomers, its not exactly a horrible place to begin either.