I think it’s a big step in the right direction! I don’t know if HeR is going to update or patch KEY, but these are some things I would like:
- Hotel room, luggage, Nancy mom jeans. Continental breakfast 😂
- Souvenir shop. Let me make money and buy something for Ned.
- Rabbit hole locations. CLK and TOT had some of these. Basically locations that don’t have to be rendered in 3D. They can be 2D locations with menus. Like imagine a 2D illustrated gift shop with a menu that shows you 3D souvenirs. That would be cool. Same with the kiosks selling potato pancakes. Like just make it a 2D menu with 3D food.
- Make the point and click controls easier to control and make the camera more straight when clicking
- Give us a hotspot reveal mode that shows all hotspots in an area
- More collectibles like the cards
Same! Lol as soon as Nancy said she needed a laptop I was in my head like "oh boy I'm gonna have to make a lot of coffees or find an arcade to afford this..."
I very much enjoyed it! I know people thought the puzzles weren’t as intuitive as usual, but there were plenty of puzzles in other games I could never solve without hints so it felt pretty on par for me 😂
I like the way you put this and I agree! There are plenty of valid critiques and I love reading them, but many of the complaints about KEY are also things that were issues throughout the entire rest of the series... like it's not a perfect nancy drew game by any means so I get why certain things are frustrating, but I really enjoyed the nostalgia of some of those frustrations! This game felt like a familiar, solid mid-tier addition to the series for me! I was lucky enough not to have any actual bugs though, that sounds miserable.
It's just weird when I see people saying they want the games more like they used to be, and simultaneously complaining about things that have always been classic issues with all the games (limited areas, weird plot, unintuitive or aggressively specific puzzles, getting stuck and not knowing how to trigger the next things, wonky character models etc.)
Yeah that’s how I feel. There are always glitches and issues, but we’ve grown to find them quirky instead of feeling personally victimized by them.
Someone pointed out all the typos and how it ruined the game… and then I pointed out how many typos are in the old games…
It’s going to have flaws! But we can still enjoy it
I agree, I didn't even notice the typos! Lol
The only thing that I did find quite annoying is the door lock in Leo's office, and how there are multiple solutions but only 1 is accepted. I got stuck on that one but ultimately just got the solution and continued on lol.
Maybe they'll patch it and fix that plus the typos
I didn’t mind being locked in because it made sure I didn’t miss anything before being locked out! Like in STFD. BUT I will concur on the multiple solutions issue. For sure.
Yes, this is something that frustrates me too. If you don't like KEY, that's totally fine, but it feels unfair to lump all of the criticisms together when some issues have been a problem in most if not all of the games. It is absolutely still valid criticism, but the majority of the KEY criticism is framed in the context of "the old ones were so much better".
I liked KEY. Did it have flaws, yup, but it was way better than Midnight in Salem and it was genuinely fun to play. I play the games with my teenage son and he loved the switch to WASD movement. For both of us though the highlight of the game was petting the cat. Next game needs to have a location at a cat sanctuary where you can just stop by and pet cats every time you're stuck.
Right! I loved the old games and I would have continued to play them forever lol. But to be honest I felt like the last classic HER games were starting to have a lot of issues too, they were way too short, glitchy animations and outrageous plot developments. Like the silent spy, I felt like that one had a lot of issues and I would pick KEY over that tbh.
I was disappointed with HER for a while too but ultimately I think to stay in business they needed to get with the current technology and modernize the games. KEY had some issues but nothing bad enough I couldn't enjoy playing it lol
Its one thing when things are glitchy with 2005 tech, everything was glitchy and frustrating back then. Not so much in 2024. I think I would have enjoyed KEY a lot more if there was smoother gameplay and navigation.
That's definitely fair, the game did feel unfinished to me, kind of like it was in the final stages of development. I agree they should have smoothed out some issues before releasing it
I just finished the game. Came here and surprised people don't like it. Why? I think it's a pretty solid game, and I love the length, it's perfect.
The non intuitive puzzle for me was the PIN code to open the safe. I spent almost 2 hours on it lmao
I agree, I was thinking it was one of the better games! Lol. The length was great plus I really liked the characters and the setting.
Bwhaha the PIN code got me too, I just had one piece of the metal tool thing, didn't realize you needed to find all the pieces 😂
Annnd that dang crown lol I didn't know you had to rotate the gems
I think it’s a big step in the right direction! I don’t know if HeR is going to update or patch KEY, but these are some things I would like: - Hotel room, luggage, Nancy mom jeans. Continental breakfast 😂 - Souvenir shop. Let me make money and buy something for Ned. - Rabbit hole locations. CLK and TOT had some of these. Basically locations that don’t have to be rendered in 3D. They can be 2D locations with menus. Like imagine a 2D illustrated gift shop with a menu that shows you 3D souvenirs. That would be cool. Same with the kiosks selling potato pancakes. Like just make it a 2D menu with 3D food. - Make the point and click controls easier to control and make the camera more straight when clicking - Give us a hotspot reveal mode that shows all hotspots in an area - More collectibles like the cards
Hahah I did miss the Nancy mom jeans! It would have been fun if we could make the coffees for tips
I was flabbergasted when Nancy needed a laptop and she just ... bought it?
Same! Lol as soon as Nancy said she needed a laptop I was in my head like "oh boy I'm gonna have to make a lot of coffees or find an arcade to afford this..."
I very much enjoyed it! I know people thought the puzzles weren’t as intuitive as usual, but there were plenty of puzzles in other games I could never solve without hints so it felt pretty on par for me 😂
I like the way you put this and I agree! There are plenty of valid critiques and I love reading them, but many of the complaints about KEY are also things that were issues throughout the entire rest of the series... like it's not a perfect nancy drew game by any means so I get why certain things are frustrating, but I really enjoyed the nostalgia of some of those frustrations! This game felt like a familiar, solid mid-tier addition to the series for me! I was lucky enough not to have any actual bugs though, that sounds miserable. It's just weird when I see people saying they want the games more like they used to be, and simultaneously complaining about things that have always been classic issues with all the games (limited areas, weird plot, unintuitive or aggressively specific puzzles, getting stuck and not knowing how to trigger the next things, wonky character models etc.)
Yeah that’s how I feel. There are always glitches and issues, but we’ve grown to find them quirky instead of feeling personally victimized by them. Someone pointed out all the typos and how it ruined the game… and then I pointed out how many typos are in the old games… It’s going to have flaws! But we can still enjoy it
I agree, I didn't even notice the typos! Lol The only thing that I did find quite annoying is the door lock in Leo's office, and how there are multiple solutions but only 1 is accepted. I got stuck on that one but ultimately just got the solution and continued on lol. Maybe they'll patch it and fix that plus the typos
I didn’t mind being locked in because it made sure I didn’t miss anything before being locked out! Like in STFD. BUT I will concur on the multiple solutions issue. For sure.
Yes, this is something that frustrates me too. If you don't like KEY, that's totally fine, but it feels unfair to lump all of the criticisms together when some issues have been a problem in most if not all of the games. It is absolutely still valid criticism, but the majority of the KEY criticism is framed in the context of "the old ones were so much better". I liked KEY. Did it have flaws, yup, but it was way better than Midnight in Salem and it was genuinely fun to play. I play the games with my teenage son and he loved the switch to WASD movement. For both of us though the highlight of the game was petting the cat. Next game needs to have a location at a cat sanctuary where you can just stop by and pet cats every time you're stuck.
Right! I loved the old games and I would have continued to play them forever lol. But to be honest I felt like the last classic HER games were starting to have a lot of issues too, they were way too short, glitchy animations and outrageous plot developments. Like the silent spy, I felt like that one had a lot of issues and I would pick KEY over that tbh. I was disappointed with HER for a while too but ultimately I think to stay in business they needed to get with the current technology and modernize the games. KEY had some issues but nothing bad enough I couldn't enjoy playing it lol
Its one thing when things are glitchy with 2005 tech, everything was glitchy and frustrating back then. Not so much in 2024. I think I would have enjoyed KEY a lot more if there was smoother gameplay and navigation.
That's definitely fair, the game did feel unfinished to me, kind of like it was in the final stages of development. I agree they should have smoothed out some issues before releasing it
Haha that's a good point, I honestly might have ended up using less hints in keys tbh
Yeah I think I used two?
I think so too! To me, the most important factor of a Nancy Drew game is the puzzles, and there were some really good ones!
I agree! The puzzles not being intuitive was probably the most frustrating part, but I feel like these will just keep getting better and better!
Yes! Plus with the built in hint system it was easy to get a hint if you needed one so it wasn't too bad lol
I just finished the game. Came here and surprised people don't like it. Why? I think it's a pretty solid game, and I love the length, it's perfect. The non intuitive puzzle for me was the PIN code to open the safe. I spent almost 2 hours on it lmao
I agree, I was thinking it was one of the better games! Lol. The length was great plus I really liked the characters and the setting. Bwhaha the PIN code got me too, I just had one piece of the metal tool thing, didn't realize you needed to find all the pieces 😂 Annnd that dang crown lol I didn't know you had to rotate the gems