Penelope Pendrick and the Art of Deceit

I've always loved playing Nancy Drew games growing up, and this game scratched that itch!

For me this would fit into a top 5 Nancy drew game. It is so well done, challenging but not stupidly impossible, and keeps you engaged. Love it!

A lot of love has gone into the development of this game and it was an absolute joy to play! I can't wait to see what the developers do next.

This game is absolutely fantastic and I couldn't recommend it further. The game developer took all of the elements that made the original Nancy Drew games memorable, such as solving puzzles and sneaking in people's things, while also incorporating her own creative ideas. The result is a game that manages to be unique while also scratching that Nancy Drew itch - making it perfect for people with nostalgia for Her Interactive.

I was so impressed by what such a small team (with many areas covered by just one person) was able to create as their first effort. It's truly inspiring to know that the lead creator grew up playing Nancy Drew PC games and eventually created a universe of her own. They accomplished so many things on the first go! This game isn't perfect (and I wasn't expecting it to be), but it succeeds at a lot of what it sets out to do. Pros: -The graphics are pretty nice for an indie studio. This game was built in Unity, and that engine can only do so much in terms of graphics. Unity games never look quite as warm/polished lighting-wise as Unreal Engine games, so there's always a bit of starkness in some of the colors/backgrounds that can't be helped, but this is more than made up for by the detailed, richly-textured environments with tons of things to look at. There's definitely inspiration drawn here from the early Nancy Drew PC game environments, which boasted about close ups and objects to interact with. Later games in the series lost this special touch. It was nice to take my time looking through everything just like my mom and I did playing classic ND. -Most of the puzzles are pretty fun and nod to classic puzzles from the Nancy Drew series. There was one puzzle that I noped out of once I saw what it was going to be, but that gets its own section below. A few puzzles I needed an initial hint online to get me started, but they were fairly straightforward after getting over the hurdle on how to start. -I loved getting to snoop! Another classic ND feature that fell by the wayside in many of the later games. It was fun wondering when I was going to be able to get each of them out of their area so I could look around. There was plenty to look at, too. I felt like with each object picked up I was learning a new twist about a character. It was interesting trying to guess what secrets would be uncovered each time I looked around a new place. A nice amount of locations opened up as the game progressed. -Little things the characters say, or objects in the environments, will delight longtime Nancy Drew game fans. There were tons of little Easter eggs referencing past games. There's a Stay Tuned for Danger reference in a character's house, and her schedule mirrors that of a character in Message in a Haunted Mansion. One of her ending conversation lines references one of the series' most famous quips from a suspect to Nancy. The references to classic ND are endless, and really show how much love the studio has for the games that inspired it. -The characters are pretty well-written and overall have consistent dialogue and traits. Some of the dialogue and themes prove this game is more adult than the Nancy Drew games it draws from, which is a good thing. It was refreshing to hear the characters talk like real adults who've been through things. I do wish more of the conversations were grouped together (instead of being spread over many short conversations), as this would help with some of the backtracking issues I reference later, but overall the dialogue is good and pretty snappy at times. -The plot is multi-layered and revealed at a slow burn, but with enough interesting finds at each turn to leave you coming back for more. I think most players will probably have to consult online hints at some point to move them forward, but as long as you don't mind that, the plot progresses at a fairly steady pace. Neutrals: -This isn't a con per se, as I played a lot of games like this growing up. But Penelope Pendrick is designed very much like a 1990s adventure game, which can make gameplay seem a bit dated to players. If you read other reviews, they talk about how it gets tedious backtracking,: having to run and talk to everyone, return to your room, or sleep ad nauseum to advance the plot. And...yeah, that's exactly how 90s adventure games worked. You can even see it in the early ND games. It's why adventure games used to come with a little guide to give you hints. Most people didn't have internet back then to access a walkthrough, if one even existed at the time. So this game is designed old school, and honestly it's that way to make the game easier to program. There are SO many contingencies that can happen from any game with non-linear aspects that the easiest way to account for them is to advance the plot with gameplay contrivances like phone calls and sleeping. It doesn't bother me to have gameplay progress this way, though it may bother others. Cons: -There's quite a bit of backtracking, as referenced above, and it does get excessive. It wasn't clear at times that I was supposed to stop what I was doing and go call someone, though I quickly got in the habit of checking in with my phone contacts regularly. Speaking of the phone, though: not being able to click and automatically dial phone numbers gets tedious. I hope the next game allows you to skip dialing if you don't want to. And also, slowly dialing a number just to hear Penelope say "I don't need to talk to them right now" is slightly maddening. -My thoughts and prayers to everyone who first-timed this game on hard mode, as without the tasklist I would've been very lost on what to do at most points of the game. Even then, the tasklist wasn't always fleshed out enough to really tell me what I needed to do. This is DEFINITELY a 90s style adventure game, as I said. I just wish there had been a hints system built in. Really hoping the next game has one! It feels like cheating if you use a guide because a lot of them hop straight into the spoiler for the puzzle/task you're trying to do. -The stairs puzzle was just too much. Many people aren't a fan of trial and error puzzles, and this one's a doozy. As all of the puzzles in the game are the same across both difficulties, this one felt cruel to the amateur players like me. Especially as it was the last puzzle at the end of a long puzzle challenge. I liked most of the puzzles in the endgame challenge other than the last, but in general I dislike games that end with a puzzle gauntlet like this. It reminded me a bit of the ending of The Shattered Medallion, which a lot of people didn't really like. Overall: I think this is a very solid first game for this team. They should be extremely proud of what they created! I definitely recommend this game to anyone who wants the feel of an old school Nancy Drew or other 90s adventure games like The Longest Journey or Grim Fandango. I'm looking forward to the next one!

A throwback to the old point-and-click Nancy Drew, the only complaint is that there is no in-game hint system, but the Steam community picks that up. It's fun, well-done, and a joy to play. If you like point-and-click mysteries, you should definitely give this one a try!

Great game with a good story and challenging puzzles. Definitely needed a walkthrough a few times.