nancy drew mysteries

where it started

when i was nine, my mom bought me a copy of Nancy Drew: Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake. she was an OG casual game girly - she never had fun if something was chasing her, but give her a low-stakes puzzle game and she was hooked. naturally, she passed that on to me, so we both loved the experience, even when we had to turn to the forums for some hints. it took us a long time to figure out how spoiler text worked - that you could highlight the text to read it - and we felt so silly when we finally did. we spent the rest of my tweens collecting every installment and sleuthing together.

years later, i'd get to do it all again from the opposite side of the age gap - once my sister was old enough for computer games we ripped through the whole series together. i did the puzzles and she did the point-and-clicking and (most importantly) the snarky running commentary. after a misspent lifetime apart, she moved back in with me for a year after she turned eighteen. we played our old favorites on my kitchen table while having a cheeky day drink and it meant more to me than i can express.

suffice it to say that i love these games with my whole soul, and this is my little shrine to them.