On April 14th, HeR Interactive dropped a sneak peek of the upcoming Nancy Drew game. The studio behind the iconic series of point-and-click games is currently developing a 34th Nancy Drew game. This week they gave eager fans a preview with a video showing a greybox model of a mystery location from the upcoming game, as well as 10 images of the location’s artwork.
Fans have hoped for a 34th Nancy Drew game since the 2019 release of Nancy Drew: Midnight in Salem. Though many were disappointed with the game’s new art style and the absence of Nancy’s voice actress Lani Minella, the charm of Nancy Drew clearly endures as HeR Interactive’s previews of Nancy Drew #34 have been met with excitement.
HeR Interactive released the previews on YouTube, Twitter, and on their website’s page for “A New Nancy Drew Mystery.” The page was previously a password-protected secret discovered by fans among clues released by HeR Interactive hinting at the new game. The unlabeled greybox model shows what appears to be an open-concept cafe, with seating just outside. The detailed images of the interior leave plenty for fans to investigate.
The old-world style cafe features various pieces of high-poly eye candy like a chandelier, and bookshelves that are sure to hide some of the Nancy Drew franchise’s signature clues: historical facts hidden within an in-game book for the player to read.
Recent fan speculation was that ND #34 will take place in Austria, but could a croissant in the images indicate a French setting? After all, one clue spotted by fans in a previous HeR Interactive video spelled out “salut,” which is French. Furthermore, on April 12th, the password for HeR Interactive’s password protected page was “le diamant de ma misere.” This French phrase references the fourth Nancy Drew game and translates to “the diamond of my misery.”
Though many fans are wary of the potential for another 3D game, it appears the HeR Interactive team feels more confident. Though the studio has not confirmed whether they will continue using the Unity engine introduced with game #33 or returning to the proprietary engine that ran most of the previous games, HeR Interactive’s official YouTube channel favorited a comment from a player who “loved the point-and-click style ND games before #33,” but thought “that it would be smart to continue making games that are compatible to play with a controller.”