Nancy Drew®: Danger on Deception Island

Danger on Deception Island is the 9th Nancy Drew adventure game. In this game, Nancy goes on a whale-watching vacation when her host's boat is sabotaged. While waiting for it to be repaired, Nancy has to find out who's behind the sabotage and whether it has to do with a nearby orca. To solve the mystery, Nancy has to travel around Deception Island and interview the most likely suspects. An injured orca is recuperating in the bay, and the locals can't agree about how to approach the situation. Nancy has to figure out which of the townsfolk has something to hide, and what their motivation for committing the crime could be. All of the suspects have pretty compelling motives and Deception Island is hiding some interesting secrets. I enjoyed solving the mystery for the most part, although [spoiler] Hilda's difficult task list and annoying secrecy for no reason other than to "make you value the answer enough" was really annoying. [/spoiler] The ending has some surprises and did quite go where I was expecting. The gameplay is pretty typical for the early Nancy Drew games. You explore Deception Island, interview townspeople, and solve puzzles. The puzzles in the first half of the game were pretty good, if a little easy, but going into the second half of the game, the puzzles got more difficult and more repetitive. There was a ton of backtracking through really complicated areas which were a pain to navigate, or having to go across town to get to an area that's right next to you just because the game doesn't want to let you approach from that direction. [spoiler] The clam digging was also super annoying. I didn't like having to crisscross the different areas and have to leave and come back if you mess up too much. The hotspots were also pretty small and finicky to click on. [/spoiler] I ended up relying on a walkthrough a lot, both for some tricky puzzles and to avoid all the backtracking. Overall, Danger on Deception Island has some strong points but I didn't end up liking it very much. I enjoyed the mystery (aside from one contrived part), and the puzzles in the first half of the game were pretty enjoyable. This also probably had the best soundtrack of the games I've played so far. However, the puzzles in the second half of the game were very annoying and the rest of the game didn't stand out enough to make up for it. 4/10

its been a while since i finished this game but i keep thinking about it because it was so much fun to play. i have only played a few nancy drew games but the ones i have played have a special place in my heart. this one was really funny

fish

This game is an absolute favorite of mine. Honestly, it may even be my #1. Whenever I ask myself which Nancy Drew game I like best it is always a tie between Danger on Deception Island and The Final Scene. (But for the purposes of this review, we'll say it's DDI.) Firstly, the vibes of this game are immaculate. The sights, sounds, and music all do an excellent job transporting you to the Pacific Northwest, and honestly? Sometimes that's just where I want to be. The fact that I grew up loving whales and wanting to study marine biology also really makes this one special. (There's an ORCA in this game, guys! An actual orca!) In addition to all that, the characters are good (LOTS of drama) and though the mystery itself starts out fairly mild, it escalates into something way bigger, and by the time you reach the endgame, the stakes have raised to insane levels. The ending itself is (in my opinion) one of the best in the franchise. It's set up so well, and I remember my mind being absolutely blown the first time I played. I guess what I'm trying to say is: this is peak Nancy Drew content, and if you haven't played it yet, what are you waiting for?

I recommend all Nancy Drew games but this one does have a bug. You need to follow a certain order of operations or it essentially tells you you can't progress in the game. And that is sad.

As someone from the PNW, this game is one of my favorite Nancy Drews!

I know a lot of people love this title, but I missed playing it when I was younger (it wasn't at my local library haha) and only played it later as an adult. It's honestly really boring. There are some notable moments, and the setting has potential, but it really just feels bland. If you like the series and are looking to play all the titles, you'll enjoy it regardless, but compared to the other games I would say this is one that could easily be skipped.

Unpopular opinion perhaps, but this is not one of my favourite ND games. I just didn't get pulled into the story like I usually do. Puzzles were well solveable but just not as interesting as I'd like. I actually had to force myself to get back on and just finish it just so I could move on. It's a fine game, I just don't get why it's in so many people's top five.

This one didn't captivate my interest the way a lot of the other games did. Maybe it was the characters or the tasks but I ended up taking a bit of a break from it for a bit. I liked the atmosphere and kayaking was fun - discovering new places with the GPS, getting free clam chowder, exploring tunnels, and the whale! But the characters weren't really that interesting and some of the tasks were tedious like getting stuck with final few clams, tracking down coordinates, biking back and forth and back and forth. There wasn't anything too scary about this one so my score for scare factor is 1/5. Overall game play I give a 2/5.

I wanted more orca :( but the puzzles were less fun and more tedious. not my favorite of nd.