Nancy Drew®: The Haunting of Castle Malloy

Nancy Drew®: The Haunting of Castle Malloy
81
Metacritic
80
Steam
69.321
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$6.99
Release date
17 July 2009
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
80 (154 votes)

Unveil a Ghostly Legend and Find a Vanished Groom!

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Nancy Drew®: The Haunting of Castle Malloy system requirements

  • OS: Window XP/Vista
  • Processor: 1 GHz or greater Pentium or equivalent class CPU
  • Memory: 128 MB of RAM
  • Graphics: 32 MB DirectX 9.0 compatible video card
  • DirectX: 9.0
  • Hard Drive: 1 GB or more of hard drive space
  • Sound: 16 bit DirectX compatible sound card

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
Updated
App type
Steam APP ID
31910
Platforms
Windows PC
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nana una
nana una

Fantastic point-and-click. Very well rounded.
I enjoyed pretty much everything this game has to offer, from the story, characters, setting, and soundtrack.
Would recommend to any Nancy fan who isn't afraid of puzzles (this is one of the more puzzle heavy entries, so FYI when choosing this one.)

peridot_lynx
peridot_lynx

This is only the second Nancy Drew game I've played. The first was Captive Curse. That one was fantastic. This one... I played on Junior Detective mode, but the complete lack of any hints or cues made these puzzles incredibly frustrating. I only managed to solve a handful of them without having to look up hints online. For the most part I was able to solve the puzzles with hints (except for that Otter puzzle, which I gave up on after a solid hour). I also found Fiona's character to be incredibly sad in a way that was jarring in comparison to the otherwise kind of silly and lighthearted plot. I'm looking forward to playing more ND games but will definitely stick to those where some kind of commentary/context is provided for the puzzles (like in Captive Curse).

Anonymous
Anonymous

One of my favorites. Super fun. Got stumped on the book puzzle and could not figure it out. Looked up a hint and realized it's right in front of my face. Just try to find numbers, it was honestly the trickiest puzzle in the game. The chemistry one, which I died at least 20 times attempting, felt like a breath of fresh air after the book puzzle. Love the story though, I hope they make new games like this with better graphics, because they are so fun.

MeddyChollia
MeddyChollia

The game glitched out near the end of the play through (spoiler) around the scene were Nancy tried to talk to Kyler about who the banshee is. The game seemed to freeze and I lost audio through out the rest of the game play no matter how many times I booted/restarted the save file. If you're at this point DO NOT talk to Kyler about the banshee otherwise you'll glitch. Needless to say as well, the ending puzzle was a pain in the butt. I lost count how many times I died. The story was odd-least the exposition dump at the end kinda took me out of it. I suppose the game developers at the time were tying out something different I kinda see what they were going for but it sorta fell flat for me. The puzzles after a while numbed my brain-this feels like a puzzle heavy game. Mixing the drinks was a nice pallet cleanser tho. And the atmosphere was lovely and I did enjoy the sheep sheering and flower picking puzzle. Anyway-mixed feelings. Not a BAD game but there have been other games that WOWED me. Over all-if you like chemistry, Irish folklore, and logic puzzles then go for this! Otherwise not the adventurous Nancy Drew game I'm used to.

shady
shady

I've only played this entry in the Nancy Drew series once before so I was a little foggy going into my second playthrough. I knew the bizarre ending, of course, and won't spoil it here. The puzzles & story however? Couldn't remember it. To be honest forgettable is exactly how I'd describe a lot of this game. The characters feel bland (Sorry Kyler!) and the puzzles are fairly standard. Nothing stands out besides the infuriating bog maze & chemical puzzle. I don't know, this one just didn't do it for me. If you're a fan of Nancy Drew and have played the other games I'd definitely recommend it as it's definitely worth playing. As an entry game to the series? I'd look for one of the better options. I'm throwing this in the lower middle of the pack.

kaitlinkat327
kaitlinkat327

Excellent game! The puzzles were as hard as I remember when I was younger. I remember playing the next one in the series, Ransom of the Seven Ships. It's not available anymore and I used to have the CD for it. Too bad I didn't keep it. It was a fun game but I commend them for discontinuing it.

Raccoon Friend
Raccoon Friend

As happy as I am to finally be done with this game (took me so long,,,) I can't wait to jump back into it sometime. The puzzles took forever and I needed some guidance at times because I genuinely didn't know where to go half of the time, but I still had lots of fun with it.
Kyler is definitely one of my favorite characters in the Nancy Drew games. Idk what it is (I love women)

morelmorrow
morelmorrow

I'm playing my way through all of the ND games, and I suspect most people reading this review are too, regardless of reviews! But here are my thoughts anyway.

I'm unsure where to place this title on my overall ND rankings list. I have very conflicting thoughts about it - my biggest complaint is that there was NO need for it to be as tedious (cough cough, sheep) complicated, and punishing as it was in some parts (cough cough, chemical puzzle). I had been forewarned by previous reviewers, so I gave up quite early in after the first few eardrum-shattering explosions and resigned myself to using a walkthrough. I did find more puzzles in this one tedious than not. also, the characters felt rather one-note to me...yes, there's the drama unfolding, but nothing that you can't really see coming at the first hint.

now onto the good - this title does introduce a few new mechanics that made it feel fresh and interesting, however that's competing with the amount of backtracking you have to do. i do feel like the setting was great, the castle was really interesting and thematic as well as the other locations you can visit. we've had a few castle-based titles already so i enjoyed the amount of additional locations to explore. i enjoyed the story overall, and ND games really do have a penchant for creating the most wildly rational explanation for what's going on, it always ensures a hilarious and interesting reveal. overall, i did enjoy it, it just felt really bogged down by some of the puzzles. great for spooky factor though!

Janiya
Janiya

Another awesome adventure! Made even more awesome by my new favourite game mechanic, the Jetpack!! A good mix of puzzles with a range of difficulties. And you can't go wrong with a mysterious disappearance in an old castle.

lemo
lemo

this was the first nd game i played with a rake of ambiguous clues. what's the "inverse" of a letter? do you reflect it over the x-axis? y? both? what if its the sixth step in a sequence of 10 steps and you'll have to complete four tests to determine which is the right answer bc the letter is p (p, d, b, q)? a tree full of small leaves? those are baby leaves, it's spring, not the dry leaves of late summer. taurus to represent summer and aquarius to represent spring? give me a break. there were too many vague puzzles for me to be able to say i really enjoyed this one.

epwalker.14
epwalker.14

Not the best ND game I've played, but definitely not the worst. I didn't fully understand the story until it was explained at the end, I thought the jet pack was a really weird component, and I feel like the game kind of did a 180 in the story progression. The puzzles are fun and the setting is eerie and interesting, but the story line itself was just random and odd. Would still recommend.

That_Sly_Fox
That_Sly_Fox

This game when it first came out really did a wonder on my nerves! In a good way though! I was constantly scared to possibly here the banshee wailing or see that banshee in my face! I was also playing this in the dark at the time which I think added to the scare factor but in general the game is a lot of fun with tons of puzzles and things to do along with a really rich story that begs to be heard. A great game and one of my personal favorites.

SickB
SickB

somewhat ok game but when you hit the end there is the greatest shit puzzle (chemical puzzle) of them all.

I just quit there after about 50 retries because i can´t stand the shit controls with the complete waste of time until you can retry.

You really want to sell this to kids? You must be the greatest moron dev that walks the earth. If this game pisses me off that hard how much chance does a kid have?

Don´t buy this pile of shit.

EalasaidW
EalasaidW

I wanted to like this game, and I did, for a while. The atmosphere is good, and well, there's Irish in it. However, the folklore aspect and the mystery kind of devolved very quickly into nonsensical, nonskippable mini games that added nothing to a sense of INVESTIGATING A MYSTERY. I was really disappointed by that. Game play felt like slogging along from one minigame to another, not finding clues and making deductions. I was also disappointed by the solution and quit playing before the end (here's looking at you, stupid chemical puzzle). I don't want to write a spoiler to the end, but, let's say it ain't the folklore. I still recommend it because parts were fun (those sheep haircuts were awesome!) and enjoyed upsetting the dude in the bar with my lousy bodhrán playing.

henrybspackman
henrybspackman

I normally love Nancy Drew games, but this was by far the worst I've ever purchased. Terrible graphics and random, non related puzzles. Not even kind of creepy. The plot is really simple, no tiwsts at all. It has this weird confusing third person map that you have to use to get around. Overall, there was almost nothing I enjoyed about completing this game. Not to say I don't usually love these games, but I would definitely go for a different one

Awesomehylian
Awesomehylian

As a lover of the Nancy Drew games, I did enjoy this game, however there were some issues. Some of the puzzles just straight up made no sense and I would end up solving them on accident by getting angry and just messing with them without thought or logic.

I always enjoy when these games take you out of first person view, so I enjoyed the outside travel, though a whole area I thought was off limits proved not to be, and really screwed up my gameplay because a ton of stuff was there that I needed, but it seemed like an off limits, "nothing there" sort of area.

There was a good variety of puzzles as usual, but as others have said, some of them just aren't very clear or are too sensitive, such as the drink mixing and the elements one. I'd still recommend this game for lovers of the series. This isn't the only ND game to be frustrating. :P

KOappC
KOappC

One of the only Nancy Drew games I don't like. The puzzles are tedious and the storyline is downright ridiculous. The story is sooooo boring that they had to throw in chemical spills, jetpacks, and a love triangle between three characters at an attempt to make it interesting. I am glad I got this in a bundle or I would have gotten a refund.

The Authentic David Wren
The Authentic …

Definitely a fun Nancy Drew game, but some of the puzzles are pretty tedious. I really like the haunted house setting games in the series, but this one is not a great one to start with because it requires some real patience.

MysteryBloom
MysteryBloom

Well... that certainly took a turn. This was actually a pretty fun and entertaining game, even with the frustrating puzzles. However, I feel like the ending kind of came out of nowhere in a lot of ways, and that one of the final puzzles was just completely awful to play. Also, this might just be because I played on Junior Detective, but some of the items and clues that I got near the end were never used, so that was weird. Overall, though, I thought this game was a lot of fun, and will probably replay it with Senior Detective next time.

Katye
Katye

This is a good game, I liked Kyler's character and the whole feel and setting of this game. The graphics were good and I really enjoyed the ending scenes. A lot of people have problems with the last puzzle but it just has some very picky and sensitive mechanics so take your time and save often. There were some bad puzzles (constellation/season stones, and the rollback drawer code), and some good ones (dollhouse, sheep, darts, seating chart). I thought it was a little crazy that Nancy would get a jetpack but it was actually tied in well. In the end I felt that Nancy didn't need to launch the rocket when she had the jetpack but sure, why not? I couldn't thing of any loose ends other than where is Nancy's car keys?

camerondrood
camerondrood

I only recently got into the Nancy Drew series, and The Haunting of Castle Malloy was the second chapter I played for my initial dive into the world of the teenage detective. I went in expecting an atmospheric, spooky adventure where I explored a deteriorated Irish castle and surrounding grounds. And I...sort of got that. I came out of Castle Malloy simultaneously intrigued and annoyed...a very confusing combo indeed. While Phantom of Venice (my first ND game) certainly had its flaws, it did not leave me as irritated as Malloy did at several points throughout the game. I'd sooner call Malloy a problematic game than a bad one, but let's go into the good stuff first.

- For the most part, the atmosphere is VERY well done. The opening with Nancy driving along a dark road on a foggy night in rural Ireland is very effective. Early in the game, I had wonderful moments of tension that sent light shivers down my spine. Walking into the nursery and hearing a horrible wailing in the distance, followed by Nancy quietly exclaiming "What was that?!" made me want to bolt from that room as swiftly as possible. Or walking into the foggy garden to discover a group of creepy leprechaun lawn gnomes. These spooky moments were definitely the highlight of the game for me, and I wish they were even more plentiful.
- When compared to the older Nancy Drew games, the character models are actually pretty good. Of course, they have their usual stiffness, but they are definitely sleeker and much more pleasant to look at than, say, the Penvellyns in Blackmoor Manor.
- The music is usually pretty solid in Nancy Drew games, but the music in Castle Malloy is particularly good! At times, it is mysterious and tense, and at others it is grand and adventurous. The presence of bagpipes and drums definitely help add the appropriate Irish flavor to the soundtrack. Props to the music team.
- Some of the puzzles are pretty decent. The scale puzzle in the library is simple, yet challenging, and puzzles like the Leprechaun puzzle are also well done.

Now for the downsides..

- While some of the puzzles are pretty good, many of them are either vague and overly difficult, or just plain tedious. The damn chemical puzzle is particularly infamous for being one of the worst puzzles in the ND series, and the reputation is fully deserved. The concept isn't challenging enough to work your brain, and the actual mechanics involved are so precise and frustrating that I found myself throwing my head in my hands in pure exasperation after the mechanical arm lightly brushed against an explosive chemical container for the fifth damn time. The game even has one of those wretched sliding puzzles that nobody likes.
- When compared to the casts of games like Blackmoor Manor or Last Train, Castle Malloy definitely doesn't measure up as well. First off, outside of phone conversations, the game has a total of THREE characters that you interact with over a vast majority of the game. Compare this to the six major characters you interact with in Last Train, or the six major characters of Blackmoor (if you include Loulou of course). The other problem is, the three that we have are not particularly interesting. Donal is not bad, and his paranoid faerie stories definitely add to him. Kyler and Kit, however, are much less exciting. Kyler plays the role of the anxious bride, and does little outside of sit in the library and get filled in by Nancy every now and then. While there isn't much to her, she as at the very least a soothing and welcome presence in the game. Kit, however, is just an obnoxious, self centered ass. I wont say much for fear of spoiling, but DAMN did I hate talking to this guy. He wasn't even irritating in a funny way like Tino Balduci in Last Train. He was just plain irritating.
- The top-down view took away from the atmosphere of game slightly. I didn't hate it, but I definitely would have appreciated less of it, and more of the forced first person views to REALLY bring on the chills. And speaking of lessened atmosphere, all sense of horror is pretty much thrown right out the window once you acquire a certain item about two-thirds of the way through the game. At that one point, things go from scary to silly really quick...you'll know it when you find it.
- While the set up of a missing groom in a haunted castle is very interesting, I was very underwhelmed by the ending. The reveal of the culprit comes right out of left field, with almost no hints beforehand that would have allowed you to reach the conclusion. Things go in a disappointingly different direction as the story enters the final stretch, especially when compared to the excellent atmosphere that the game started with.
- As always, the arcade games are annoying, and frustratingly required. On the subject of mini games, the drink mixing game was ok, but the drum rhythm game was poorly done, with your drum beats not even remotely matching up to the rest of the music.

I'm torn on Castle Malloy. On the one hand, the atmosphere is great, the game looks very nice (for a Nancy Drew game), the setup is solid, and the music is top notch. On the other, the puzzles are a mixed bag, the cast is dry and mostly forgettable, and the story is unsatisfying in the end. I feel that while the game did several things well, it also had a lot of wasted potential when it came to the story and characters. I would still give Malloy a recommendation, as the stuff that is good is still really good. However, I would sooner recommend Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon, or Curse of Blackmoor Manor to anyone who was interested in giving the Nancy Drew series a try. Check it out, but don't expect anything mind blowing. I'd recommend getting this one when a sale is going on.

The Haunting of Castle Malloy gets a 6/10 for me

JackB
JackB

Not one of the best ND games. It has a promising start but there is a lack of direction in both gameplay and storyline. Puzzles are near impossible sometimes to the point of not being fun. There is a lack of information about how to solve some of the more technical puzzles & when you can even solve them. You can spend a long time on a puzzle to find out that you don't even have the equipment to complete it.
Story is really weird overall. I would be really interested to know where they drew inspiration for it, because, it's so nonsensical that it must have been drawn from several sources.
If you buy, enjoy the bog. But if you don't, there are much better ND games out there to play.

agentM007
agentM007

I am already a big fan of Nancy Drew games (Her Interactive)...That being said, this was a fun mystery story with the usual amount of games and puzzles. Personally, I love all the games where Nancy (or another character) makes food or drinks; great way to hear information or persuade people! True, some of the puzzles were a bit tedious and did not have much description or instructions; still, the goal of the game (at least for some players) is to solve the mystery rather than get it done as soon as possible. Sometimes the best way to solve especially difficult or time-consuming puzzles is to step away from it literally and/or mentally for a period of time. If you're absolutely stuck, there are great community/discussion board threads for all the Her Interactive Nancy Drew Mystery games.

As for the story itself, the plot was promising: a missing fiance and a hostile, old castle-keeper. My friend and I appreciated the hints from Madame to be quite helpful, but calling Ned and Bess was mostly useless. Despite liking most of the characters or liking to dislike some of the characters, several of them did not provide Nancy with information that actually helped solve the mystery. Instead, they gave her more tasks to complete. I did not mind, but other players may be miffed at the amount of reading/searching Nancy needs to do on her own for this particular case.

Yes, the graphics are not as great as more modern games but overall not too shabby. Music is wonderful! I would play this again if only for the twist in the end (the true captor and the fun history bits). Suitable for all ages though players must be ready for foreboding atmosphere and some jump scares!

P.S.- Love the inclusion of awards at the end too. :)

Petraoz
Petraoz

Not my favorite Nancy Drew game, but still alright. I love the atmosphere of this game but I hate walking around the grounds in third person. Bothers me whenever it's used in one of these games. The characters are alright, the mini-games could be better. All in all a solid middle tier game from the series. Always fun to play for the spooks. Endgame puzzle is super frustrating though, one of the most frustrating in the whole series.

Anonymous
Anonymous

I've played nearly all of the Nancy Drew games and this by far has been my least favourite. There were not enough puzzles and the story was very disjointed...The ending was strange and random. I'm sure there are worse ways to spend your time, but if you've never played the ND games before, don't start with this one!

gh0stk1d
gh0stk1d

Despite being an engaging game, the sheer frustration that these puzzles made me feel is not something I would wish on anyone else. There is also a little too much running back and forth across the map for my tastes. If you're playing ND games and want spooky, other titles are better.

[6/10] Good story
This story was above passable, but not very interesting.

[9/10] Originality
This game introduced a new element of gameplay to the series, and did not seem to rely too heavily on past installments.

[7/10] Difficulty
The puzzles in this game can at times be abstract or frustratingly finicky.

[5/10] Graphics
The graphics make the scary parts of this game even more horrifying because they are lo-fi grotesque. Other areas are just funny in terms of poor graphics.

[8/10] Usability
In several segments of the game the controls were clunky or unclear.

[9/10] Confusing
This game makes you constantly guess without ever getting totally lost. I did play in the mode with the checklist and take notes on paper while playing.

[9/10] Predictability
I did not expect the ending to go the way it did. There were several twists and turns that kept the story fresh.

Final Score: 75.7% C

clevergirl
clevergirl

I wish you could have explored more of the castle, and the jet pack thing was a bit of a stretch, but otherwise it was a lot of fun. My favorite part was sheering the sheep!

reb
reb

I've played many ND games and while this one might not be one of my favorites, it's definitely a solid ND game that I enjoyed!

Kieya
Kieya

This is my absolute favorite Nancy Drew game. I love the Ireland ambiance, I love the puzzles, the story, everything. I would full heartily recommend this game to anyone.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Not my favorite Nancy Drew game, although I can't pinpoint why. The story was fine, but maybe it was weaker than those of other games because I didn't feel invested in the characters. It also didn't make sense to me why Nancy would be the maid of honor for a woman that Nancy was clearly not close with.

They introduced a new way to wander around the Malloy property, but it made Nancy look like she was constantly hunched, and the artistic style didn't fit in with the rest of the animation. In addition, it glitched out on me once. I was using the arrow keys to move around and suddenly Nancy wouldn't stop going left, no matter which button I pressed.

Positive things: The ending was different. And the puzzles were fun.

Anonymous
Anonymous

I really liked this game. It's fun and challenging, though a little more outlandish (and, at times, tedious) than previous Nancy Drew games! Even still, I would highly recommend this game, especially to new gamers who love puzzles. (The point and click style is very inviting and easy to navigate.)

Wuzzerator
Wuzzerator

I'm just starting to discover the Nancy Drew games, really. I first really enjoyed the Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake a few years ago and then a number of them started to come up in the sale. This is my third one I've played and I can't say that I'm enjoying it. I think it's one of the older of them which shows in the gameplay, however, I can normally look past that.

What I can't look past is the counter-intuitive nature of many of the puzzles and the way the game makes you go backwards and forwards in the hope that you might suddenly discover the clue which enables you to progress to the next bit. There's a lot of moving a small figure of Nancy around the site, which gets tedious after the first explore and really needs to be sped up. Also, there needs to be a more more of an intuitive feel of what I should do next - this may well be more available in the easier setting, but to my mind there should still be some sense even in the 'expert' mode. There are also areas where you have to get the arrow at exactly the right angle to find - a wicker basket being one of them. And there's one puzzle which you can't re-do if you got wrong either.

All in all I can't recommend as if I'm having to constantly look through walkthroughs then it just isn't a good game. I can't recommend for that reason.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Some of the more difficult puzzles near the end of the game drag this one down just a bit, but overall it's a very good Nancy Drew game. The Irish setting is cool, if limited to the two locations, and the puzzles are challenging but (mostly) fun.

mvanslambrook
mvanslambrook

Pros:
-Beautiful soundtrack, scenery, and smooth gameplay.
-Interesting storyline, for the most part.
-The puzzles aren't too challenging.
-A lot of places to go, though not necessarily to explore.
Cons:
-VERY dark gameplay throughout (minus the pub); it was very difficult to see what was going on when playing on my glassy-screen laptop during the day.
-Only 3 interactive characters.
-Not much direction from characters.

I think this is a pretty good ND game. After replaying it, though, I didn't seem to enjoy it as much as I did the first time. Though it's common in ND games, I found the dual storyline slightly confusing and strange. It did, however, make for a satisfying and complete ending. It's pretty easy to understand what needs to be done, though there is barely any direction given from characters, except for some tasks that need to be completed. Additionally, it was slightly disappointing that the castle had very minimal opportunity for exploring (only three rooms with little-to-no mystery involved, and most of the castle was closed off). The storyline was shocking, frightening, and exciting in moderation, creating a nicely balanced pace. I think this game is a good experience, and it made me feel accomplished upon solving the case. I think the price is fair, but would recommend waiting for a sale.

Anonymous
Anonymous

F*** this game. Two thumbs down, super boring, puzzles are too ridiculous, waste my time 2020, plot holes out the wahooo plz don't play this game. TERRIBLE AND TEDIOUS.

MoMo28
MoMo28

7/10. I've been a Nancy Drew fan for a long time, and I enjoyed this one, with a few caveats. Many of the puzzles have very opaque directions that make it difficult to figure out how you are even supposed to approach solving them. The hint system of the "fortune teller" robot is not particularly helpful - you can only get one hint about puzzles/tasks, and many of them do not make sense either. It's not even that the puzzles themselves are super hard, it's just that it's not clear how to solve them (the rocks, the pillars, the final puzzle sequence involving moving particular items in order). The fact that the game is all at night also made it more difficult to see things I was supposed to be noticing. If you can use a site like Universal Hint System that helps. But even with outside instructions, the final set of puzzles felt very tedious and frustrating. It made finishing less enjoyable and more "oh thank god I don't have to do any more of these."

But on the whole, I enjoyed it - I liked that there were so many locations to visit, even if you couldn't explore some of them in depth. I also really liked the drink making, drumming, and arcade games at the pub. Despite a lack of directions for some, the puzzles are pretty good on the whole. The plot is well-paced and has some good scarier moments, the graphics are good, and I liked all of the characters (except I wish they'd given Donal more screentime!)

#catlady
#catlady

I would SO recommend this ND game to others! One of my all time favorites! I love the story line, and the ending is very surprising, yet it actually makes a lot of sense. I absolutely love all of the characters and all the minigames are super fun. One of the best out there in my humble opinion! ;) (that might just be because I love Irish stuff though lol)

The.Lesbian.Lady
The.Lesbian.Lady

I really love all the Nancy Drew games. They are classic with a great story and dialogue. Classical adventure/mystery.

sampanini
sampanini

I really like the atmosphere of this game; it's one of my favorite settings in the entire series. I tend to like the spooky Nancy Drew games, and this is definitely one of them. The puzzles in this game are diverse and fun, but there are definitely some that are surprisingly challenging. Overall, I really enjoyed playing it after so many years and I'd recommend it to others, especially those who are looking for a mystery game on the spookier side.

dandy_dark
dandy_dark

Great Nancy Drew game. Some of the puzzles are quite challenging and offer great satisfaction once you figure them out! The game dives into Irish/Celtic culture. Loved the music and voice acting which made a great atmosphere while in the castle ruins. The story really took an unexpected Scobby-Do kind of turn which brought great nostalgia to me. Definitely recommended.

January
January

I want to recommend this game, I really do - if Steam had a neutral button, I would use it for this game.

The Haunting of Castle Malloy was one of the most enjoyable titles in the Nancy Drew series, as well as one of the most challenging! Blending Irish history and folklore made for a unique and interesting story line, one that I think anyone would enjoy.

The puzzles tie in well with the story, and are very, very difficult (regardless of whether you're playing on Junior or Senior Detective mode). I think someone younger (under 15) would struggle enormously with them and may find the game frightening (it does have a few jump scares and the music only adds to the spooky environment!).

The HerInteractive forums are always helpful, though they're often filled with spoilers, in case you want to avoid them. The Gameboomer guides to Nancy Drew games are another possible resource, though Steam overlay doesn't work for this game (at least not for me).

Where the story fails is the 'twist' - the game goes from a whodunit to 'what???'. The buildup fell utterly flat and made little sense in comparison to the clues the game provided. When I think of Nancy Drew games, I think of the story; something that's integral to them. If the story had ended as strongly as it began, I would be raving about the game.

Coco
Coco

Another Nancy Drew completed!

It was fun to learn binary and ancient Irish! The chemical claw puzzle was not fun. This wasn't my favorite Nancy Drew game, but I can respect it.

fedora the explorer
fedora the explorer

Good but not my favorite. Some of the puzzles were tedious and the end of the game was strangely paced.

Matt
Matt

It was good, one of the better ones in my opinion. Good story and fun to explore.
10/10 would call Ned again

derspringer0
derspringer0

i played most of it offline, so the time isnt right but whatever lol. it was okay but like lowkey boring so OwO

This Nerdy Girl
This Nerdy Girl

A great Nancy Drew game. So many puzzles! I love the aesthetic and it was a challenging play. Lots of locations to explore and you learn a lot of history in order to solve some of the puzzles. The only downside is there's not a lot of people to talk to and some of the locations you can't explore in depth. I definitely recommend!

haly.leflore
haly.leflore

I honestly can't speak to the game itself, because it crashes about every two minutes. I have tried the fixes the steam community recommends, I tried to get some tech support from both herinteractive and steam, but herinteractive only gives tech support when bought directly from their website and steam directs me to herinteractive. If you are interested in this game, maybe try getting it directly from herinteractive?

sammythekid
sammythekid

An overall okay entry in the series, it has it quirks. I did like that you could use a jetpack and the story itself was good but it sometimes was unrealistic. Apprently its either always nightime in Ireland or Nancy is partially blind, as the entire game takes course over one night. There is no way someone would be able to do all that she did over one single night. Also, how did the people in the castle live there when there were entire portions of the castle blown away, its like they are camping basically. What do they do if it rains? Seems to me they need to invest in repairs for that castle. Anyway, this ones interesting enough to play it but if you don't its no loss to you.

cookadoodledooo
cookadoodledooo

it is a fun game that teaches you about Ireland, and WWII, as well as countless enjoyable puzzles and events.

Anonymous
Anonymous

I've played a lot of the Nancy Drew games but this one was definitely my least favourite. A lot of the puzzles were really tedious and also some were so ridiculously hard - when I was forced to google the answer to one of them I had no idea how you were meant to figure it out yourself - and this was on junior detective level. There were many times I just wanted to give up.

claireachee
claireachee

The puzzles in this game were fun and not too challenging. It was fun to explore the castle and talk to the characters. The music was great too!

halk4t
halk4t

I think I like this game??? I hate all of the characters (especially Kyler ugh get off your butt and look for your own fiance). Some of the puzzles (if you can call them that???) are pretty frustrating (ie the sheep thing good lord) but the setting and premise are pretty interesting. I definitely think this is one of the more challenging games. It is puzzle-driven rather than story driven (which I like), and Nancy never has to sleep :)

buaguag
buaguag

Let me begin by telling you that nancy drew changed my life and she can change yours too. She has a beautiful voice like a anvil.

Would recomd

Necro Deeznuts
Necro Deeznuts

I love Nancy Drew games. I have been playing them for over 10 years. This is the first one that I truly did not enjoy. I played through in the senior level and multiple times felt that there was no way I was supposed to know certain things to continue with the puzzles. It's bad game design which is sad because I was excited about it taking place in Ireland. I really wanted to like this game, but half the time had to rely on walkthroughs and youtube videos to figure out what I was doing "wrong" and I never do that. This was the first time that I was so sick of the poor direction the game gave that I had to stop for days and come back to it. I am just glad future Nancy Drew games are not like this at all. Play at the risk of your own sanity.

steeves.grace
steeves.grace

I LOVE the atmosphere and setting of this game. I always find European settings interesting, but this was really cool to play in. I love that this game had a lot of places to explore (probably one of the Nancy Drew games that I've played with the most places to explore) and had a variety of mini games to do, I personally like the drums mini game the best because I was bad at the other ones. As far as the mystery goes, the ending was not my favourite because I like my Nancy Drew games to have a specific type of solution to the mystery which this one did not have. My favourite puzzle type was in this game twice, with the dollhouse and the seating chart so I enjoyed that. I found that the characters in this game were not as strong as other Nancy Drew games though and there was not a lot of dialogue at all. There also weren't any side story lines that you could really dive into like there have been in other Nancy Drew games. Also, some of the puzzles were just extremely hard or tedious even when I directly looked up solutions. Overall not a bad Nancy Drew game at all!

abkelley9000
abkelley9000

Look, it's 2021 and I know this interface isn't the best. But the plot was good, the puzzles were fun, and I enjoyed it! One of the better old Nancy Drew games that I've played. I recommend it to anyone else who has nostalgia for these games but didn't play them all when they came out.

ravenr1r2r3
ravenr1r2r3

It seemed a bit shorter than other games, but that could just be it's one of the older ones. Still, you get all of the fun and ridiculousness you expect from a Nancy Drew game, and then some.

George Costanza
George Costanza

You cannot be ready for the twist this one pulls out; curses, ghosts and creepy dolls, turned into jetpacks and underground rocket facilities. Real trippy

Seedy Vampire
Seedy Vampire

Remember, kids: if you and your partner are super dysfunctional and fight on a daily basis, just go missing for a few days before your wedding; that'll fix everything wrong with your relationship.

Most of the puzzles are enjoyable, a few are quite complicated and challenging. There are a couple fun minigames. The storyline and characters are definitely some of the weaker in the series, however. It's overall a good game, nothing spectacular stands out.

I only have two "real" complaints. The first is in regards to the sheep-herding puzzle; you have to get 10 sheep in total, and if you aren't fast enough (while, y'know, searching around a wide area in the PITCH BLACK OF NIGHT) they start escaping the pen and you have to round them back up. If that happens, you may as well start over from the beginning because there's really no recovering once the counter starts dropping, since it does so pretty rapidly. This gets more than a little frustrating, as you can imagine.

I also think it's rather a pity we never get to see the castle and grounds in daylight. The scenery probably would've been quite pretty, if we could see anything outside the circumference of Nancy's lantern.

Whiteraven2005
Whiteraven2005

This is a great instalment but the ending does leave a bit of a bitter taste, with one of the most obnoxious puzzles I've ever done - it took me an hour and that was with a walkthrough.

Good story, great puzzles (though you will have your patience tested at the end) and I really enjoyed it. I only very recently started played the Nancy Drew series, and have been incredibly impressed by them. I've played a lot of games and this series really does seem singular in it's combinations of unique puzzles and detective storytelling. I haven't found any other games like this so I'm very pleased that there are so many of them.

Saxy Calzone
Saxy Calzone

The premise and setup are great. Spooky castle, supernatural undertones, and a compelling mystery. However:

-The puzzles, while challenging, are not particularly engaging or enjoyable.

-The twist towards the end of the game really ruins the overall tone.

-There are no real danger moments. No sense of risk or urgency at any point. Sterile from beginning to end.

-The chemistry puzzle towards the end is pure tedious cancer, and ranks in the worst ND puzzles of all time. On my second play-through, I didn't even bother with it.

All in all, a total blue balls game. If you want scary and fun, go play Ghost of Thornton Hall or Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake.

sammyburton22
sammyburton22

Love Nancy but this one is a harder one and takes longer to finish if you haven't played already. Still had a lot of fun little mini games and a decent story.

Anonymous
Anonymous

A solid addition to the Nancy Drew Series. Many challenging puzzles, an interesting story line, a beautiful setting and music to go with it.

kihong017
kihong017

Love this game! The atmosphere is captivating, puzzles are challenging but fun, and the music is beautifully orchestrated.

Anonymous
Anonymous

I recommend playing all Nancy Drew games however this one just wasn't one of my favorites. It overall felt lacking, I just wasn't super invested in the story like some of the others. I didn't care much for the overhead camera when walking through the castle grounds. I feel very neutral about this game, there are worse and there are much better.

bombhilton
bombhilton

I am going to recommend this one... but only if you have played through a handful of others.
It IS a good game when it comes to the story, buuuuut it is a little more on the quirky side. There were a few really bizarre minigames and then the ending... too far out there
I am giving this a thumbs up, but don't let this be your first HERinteractive game.

sickgoogle
sickgoogle

Surprisingly fun. I haven't heard a ton of buzz about this one and I don't think it'll ever be my favorite, but the traversal around the castle was fun. There were a couple of things they did in this game that felt experimental and I don't think they'll ever use them again (at least I don't remember them using them again) but I still enjoyed them. It was a fun Nancy drew, but I don't think I'll ever be hankering to revisit it.

UnrealOwnage
UnrealOwnage

Great challenging puzzles and unique plot. I really enjoyed this one. It makes date nights with the wife a hoot.

SpookyPoe
SpookyPoe

The puzzles were frustrating with little instruction, so be prepared for lots of trial and error. The plot was annoying and sad at times, but not in a way that made you feel sympathetic for the annoying and privileged characters. Walking around on the map outside was very bizarre at first and annoying at best. Not my favorite in the franchise, I'd pick a different one.

Draycon
Draycon

First Nancy Drew my friends and I played and they wanted Senior Detective mood and lets just say we found out how dumb we were and ty for all the guides that saved us hours of stress it was fun so that's something i would recommend :p

Defunkled
Defunkled

0/10 - THE WORST NANCY DREW EVER. THE CHEMICAL SORTING AT THE END MADE ME WANT TO DIE. THIS GAME HAS TERRIBLE LIGHTING, TERRIBLE PUZZLES, AND TERRIBLE CHARACTERS. NO, THANK YOU.

Barbara Tamsin
Barbara Tamsin

Just know you can't always solve a puzzle just because you figured out the solution. Sometimes you need to find an item to tell you the solution because the game has a flag coded in, and if you do the solution early you'll die.

widthofacircle95
widthofacircle95

Standard Nancy Drew game, but couldn't bring myself to finish it as its just so hard to operate and complete tasks. At the end when you get pushed down to the bunker I gave up, Matt talks way too much, the wires are so hard to focus on, and don't get me started on the chemicals
A lot is outside where you have to hold the mouse down to walk. As a disabled person, it's just tricky sometimes and this one was particularly hard to navigate.
Would be better if there was a "skip?" after dying too many times - but I know these are old games so hey ho.

sullivec10
sullivec10

I love pretty much all the Nancy Drew games. This one has amazing atmosphere and a different-than-usual culprit. Highly recommend to any mystery lovers out there!

bostonbruiser9
bostonbruiser9

This is, hands down, the worst nancy drew game ever. Story is very unclear and puzzles are infuriatingly difficult. I never want to see a worthless otter again and sliding puzzles piss me off. The Jetpack Im doing instructions CORRECTLY and im still exploding. The hints? Absolutely lacking on junior detective..... Long story short: story sucks, puzzles suck, and the game is extremely unclear. I cannot stand this game.

Amphy
Amphy

One of the weirdest ND games, but a personal favorite nonetheless. The music and environments are beautiful and still hold up 10+ years later, and the story is less confusing than people like to believe. Also there's SHEEP which is a lot of points in my book.

My biggest criticism is the difficulty; even on Junior Detective, certain puzzles (like that damn jigsaw!!) are incredibly frustrating, and can really cause parts of the game to plod along. I also think the characters could benefit greatly from more development and engagement with the story—we get to hear about Kit and Kyler's relationships with each other and Matt, but only once or twice does anyone really interact with each other.

This game is all about patience, for better or worse. Unlike every other game in the series, there are no timed challenges (excluding the minigames) or quick-time events, so while you may spend 2 hours spilling chemicals, you at least don't have to worry about being hasty. Overall, HAU is a good edition to the series which stands out with its unusual (and polarizing) elements.

Light Demoniac
Light Demoniac

If you enjoy point and click adventure, and/or are a fan of Nancy Drew games, I would definitely suggest this one!

hereviltw1n
hereviltw1n

Fun! Cohesive story and interesting puzzles.

wiseflowertitss
wiseflowertitss

One of my all time favorite Nancy games! For nostalgic and aesthetic reasons, The Haunting of Castle Malloy is a fun and challenging installment in HerInteractive's beloved series. This game features many unique puzzles and a strange storyline that had young me reeling and now older me giggling at certain absurdities. Relevant to the travel, adventure, and creepy bundles of these games, I'd recommend it to anyone looking to dive into the series.

lbrze
lbrze

Missing exe. file. Access denied. Crashes all the time.

JayHova
JayHova

This game was a ton of fun but got really tricky towards the end for me. I love the music and the graphics are honestly pretty good for the time. Some quests were really fun/funny like shearing the sheep and making drinks (I always love the food prep activities). The plot itself was a bit odd - like why is Nancy the Maid of Honor anyway? - and why is Kyler sitting around doing nothing all day every day while her beloved is missing? But anyway, the castle was beautiful and spooky and flying around in a jet pack was hilarious. For the game play overall, I'd give it a 2.5/5 and for ND spook factor I'd say 3/5.

osheanman
osheanman

my girl threw it back to the soundtrack of this one

Anonymous
Anonymous

One of my favorite Nancy Drew games

xingxing.2193
xingxing.2193

I literally gave up at the chemical puzzle, it's nothing but stupid. I've never not finished any Nancy Drew game no matter how bad/boring/frustrating it was but this one, this one takes the cake.

Which is sad because for the most part i did enjoy this game. But definitely not one of their best. Some puzzles besides the chemical one are frustrating too. Overall not a boring or bad game. Maybe some day i will bring myself to finish it..

Anonymous
Anonymous

This isn't the best Nancy Drew game, but it was still fun to play. You have to navigate through a map which gets a little frustrating, and the end of the game is pretty far-fetched, but it was still fun to play if you enjoy the Nancy Drew style games.

Anonymous
Anonymous

I absolutely love this game! The soundtrack, location, story, and characters all fit so well together. The puzzles are unique, fun, and interesting!

Noob
Noob

this game lets you fly around in a jetpack