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Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill
Secrets Can Kill Coverart.png
Developer(s) Her Interactive
Publisher(s) DreamCatcher Games
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release date(s) November 5, 1998
Genre(s) Adventure
Mode(s) Single player

Secrets Can Kill is the first of many installments in the Nancy Drew point-and-click adventure game series by Her Interactive. Players took on the first-person view of fictional amateur sleuth Nancy Drew and solved the mystery through interrogation of suspects, solving puzzles, and discovering clues. The game is animated in 3D, but unlike later games, the characters are 2D. There were three levels of gameplay, Junior, Senior, and Master detective modes, each offering a different difficulty level of puzzles and hints, however none of these changes affected the actual plot of the game. The game was loosely based on a book of the same name Secrets Can Kill (1986).

An enhanced remake of the game, subtitled Remastered, was released on August 24, 2010. Sales of the original Secrets Can Kill were discontinued on August 1, 2010.

Contents

Plot

Nancy Drew takes a semester off of school to visit her Aunt Eloise in Florida. A student named Jake Rogers is murdered at the local high school, where Eloise works as a librarian. Eloise asks Nancy to investigate, so Nancy goes undercover as a new student and attempts to solve the mystery. Throughout the game, Nancy discovers that Jake Rogers was blackmailing several of the other characters by videotaping their misdeeds:

  • Hal Tanaka took on additional coursework in order to be approved for a scholarship. He knew that if he didn't get the scholarship, his family would send him back to Japan. He slowly became overwhelmed and buried in work, so he decided to plagiarize an English essay from a school library book, which Jake caught on camera. Jake blackmailed Hal into doing his homework for the remainder of the semester, otherwise Jake would reveal the plagiarism to Hal's family.
  • Connie Watson was struggling to get enough money for college tuition, so she decided to use her Judo expertise to compete secretly in a men's tournament (the prize money was significantly better than the women's tournament), which Connie easily won. Jake caught her removing her mask on camera, and subsequently forced her to date him.
  • Hulk Sanchez was badly injured while playing football, so in order to continue playing and impress the college scouts, he decided to break into the local pharmaceutical plant to steal some steroids. After filming Hulk leaving the plant, Jake forced him to be his lackey.
  • Daryl Gray's father was former U.S. senator Eugene Gray, who went bankrupt after some poor business deals. Daryl got involved in a smuggling deal with Mitch Dillon. Jake caught video footage of the transaction and thus demanded a cut of the profits that Daryl was receiving.
  • Mitch Dillon was running a drug transport ring from the local pharmaceutical plant. When Jake caught video footage of a transaction between him and Daryl Gray, he attempted to blackmail Mitch.

Cast

  • Nancy Drew - Lani Minella
  • Hal Tanaka - John Truong
  • Hector 'Hulk' Sanchez - Rick Calvert
  • Daryl Gray - Bill Corkery
  • Mitch Dillon - Kenton Leach
  • Connie Watson - Donna Rowry

Release

Secrets Can Kill was one of the first girls' mystery computer games to be released.

Remake

Secrets Can Kill Remastered
Cover art for Secrets Can Kill Remastered

Secrets Can Kill was officially discontinued on August 1, 2010 due to compatibility issues with sound cards in newer computers. On August 24, 2010, HeR Interactive released a remastered version of Secrets Can Kill with a brand-new ending and three-dimensional characters.

Common Sense Media reviewed the remastered game and gave it a favorable review, rating it five stars.

Preceded by
None
Nancy Drew Computer Games
Succeeded by
Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger
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