Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy is a point and click adventure game in the long running Nancy Drew franchise. It has the same basic gameplay loop, so fans of the franchise will be familiar with the majority of game mechanics.
In the context of the Nancy Drew franchise, ND:WWA is one of the later entries in the series. It comes after the developers have had time to polish and perfect their style of game. Because of this, it can feel stale if you aren’t a die hard Nancy Drew fan. For those who have never played a Nancy Drew game, the gameplay is fairly simple. You are tasked with solving a case in which students are being sent threatening letters, followed by something bad happening to the recipient. You have to figure out who is behind the letters. You alternate between interviewing suspects and searching for clues. The interviews are the most interesting part of the game, because they make you engage with the story and get invested in it. Unfortunately, the story in ND:WWA is overly generic and lacks a good hook. The plot is a basic blackmail story that tries to have twists, but they feel out of place and almost random. The puzzles are more fitting for the franchise, but actual wind up being worse than the story elements.
The game’s puzzle design is a big weak-point. It’s surprising that something that’s usually an important element of Nancy Drew games, winds up being the worst part of the game. The puzzles are designed to be difficult, but not in fun ways. Multiple puzzles are entirely trial and error, so they just feel tedious. Other puzzles take far too long to complete. One of these puzzles is mostly copying down a code and entering it somewhere else. It takes a while just because it’s a long code and if you mess it up, you have to restart. It isn’t fun when it takes longer to enter the right answer than to solve the actual puzzle. Some puzzles are actually mini-games, such as air hockey and darts. They are bare-bones and feel like filler content used to pad out the game’s runtime.
Even with numerous gameplay and story issues, ND:WWA is still enjoyable for many Nancy Drew fans. It’s far from the best entry in the series, but it can hold its own as a mid-range ND game. Against the detective genre as a whole, WWA is below average and not worth playing unless you are deep into the genre or are already a big Nancy Drew fan.
