Nancy Drew - Secret of Shadow Ranch“When a man hangs from a tree it doesn’t spell justic

Nancy Drew - Secret of Shadow Ranch“When a man hangs from a tree it doesn’t spell justice unless he helped write the law that hanged him” - E.B. WhiteRamblings ahead - *SPOILER WARNING*This game is one of my all time favorites. For starters, it was one of my first, and happened to be the first one I completed. Hearing “Here’s Shorty” will forever put fear into my childlike heart. It didn’t help that I was a big horse-girl back in the day.However, nostalgia isn’t the only reason I say this game is one of the best. What makes it great is the story. This game probably has one of the best storylines of any ND game! The tragic love story between Francis and Dirk, as well as the sad relationship of Francis and her father. It is one of the most touching and engaging stories in an ND game by far. I feel this fact is heightened by having all the letters you read from these characters be fully voiced acted. The voice actors do a wonderful job conveying the emotions of the characters and the sad but romantic tale they tell.On top of that, this game also has generally good puzzles, music, characters, atmosphere, exploration, and pacing. As well as a very good ending in my opinion. Finding the treasure and seeing just how much Dirk truly loved Francis is wonderful. Paired with an intense and scary encounter with Shorty that requires you to think outside the box to catch him. It’s all so good it about brings a tear to my eye. It’s so rare for an ND game to have everything going for it.Having the bank robber subplot in the ghost town was also really cool. It made going there scary and tense. I wish I would have had more moments where I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, or just a general feeling that they actively stalking me while I was there. But even without that, I still was always on edge while in the ghost town.I even enjoyed the more mundane side of the game, with chores and horse back riding. It made everything feel more alive and homely. Although some people find the chores (the vegetable one in particular) annoying, I personally liked the challenge and education of it.This game should be the standard of what a ND game should strive to be! I can replay this game an infinite amount of times and still love every step of Dirk’s treasure hunt and the mystery at hand. There are so many tiny details in this game that make it worth it!(Okay but I did hate the Cappy’s slot machine! If you play it straight without cheating by constantly loading a save, you will be running back and forth plaything the that dumb Run for Cover game over and over and over again!!) -- source link

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