This story first appeared in the Blocked Party member newsletter.
I had a shameful secret in the early 2000s. I didn’t share it with my friends or family. I engaged in a habit behind locked doors during hours when I was certain nobody would be able to hear me or catch wind of what I was engaging in. I speak of course of playing Her Interactive’s Nancy Drew Mystery games for PC.
These games, while low-res graphically (and not just early 2000s low-res graphically, they were low-res then too) with their wax-faced characters, the tacky decor in the game’s locations, and the sometimes borderline racist voice acting, were strangely addictive. The games had incredibly difficult and weird puzzles (in one game, you’re living in a castle, and the castle’s tower itself is a massive puzzle involving you having to rearrange gems in a series of stained glass windows. In another, you’re on an archaeological dig and you have to unlock a tomb by translating puzzle after puzzle of hieroglyphs and then activating parts of the tomb to go deeper toward the burial chamber) that actually taught you about different, sometimes old-timey technology and gave you weird trivia tidbits to trot out as soon as you’ve had precisely 1.5 beers with your friends. This was the magic of the Nancy Drew Mystery Game.
All in all, Her Interactive has made a staggering 33 of these games since 1998. There’s also a ton of behind the scenes DRAMA in the organization itself, which I would encourage you to learn more about. The goal with Her Interactive was to fulfill a niche they saw as going unfulfilled in the game marketplace: games for girls, but not games that were pink ports of crappy games with Bratz IP slapped on them or something else equally awful which is what constituted ladygames during this time period.
There was a whole tier of indoor kid that immediately got hooked on them. If you checked online sometimes less than 2 hours after a game release, a superfan would have uploaded a complete walkthrough, with annotated screenshots helping you through some of the tougher puzzles. There was a rollicking message board on the Her Interactive site where people were ADAMANT about the no spoiler policy and hints were given out as if they cost the poster $50,000. It was one of the purest, truest forms of being online for the time period and I was deeply addicted to it, yet still told no one in real life.
I had nearly forgotten about these games as they never got ported to any other devices or updated (with the exception of the remaster of the very first game, to bring its graphics in line with the remaining series.) Every now and again, I would think about something that I learned directly from one of these games and I would smile inside.
Then, in the absolute doldrums of COVID-19, a Twitch account that I followed originally for his pickle-avatar, sweary Animal Crossing videos started playing the Nancy Drew Mysteries on Twitch. I thought I was going to die from excitement. Joseph Birdsong, the “extremely gay” (by his own proclamation) Arkansas native, who swears his way through games, and reads Animal Crossing neighbors to filth, was going to play these games.
It did not disappoint. He struggled through some of the stilted dialogue, calling out all the stuff that has not aged well, (racially, this game has not come out on top, nor on the whole healthy relationship front.) When he gets frustrated by a character questioning his Nancy’s disguise in one scene, he goes off, saying, “I DON’T NEED A MAN QUESTIONING MY WIG CHOICES!!!” In Warnings at Waverly Place, he adlibs shady dialogue throughout, taking on the persona of a messy teen. Specifically, one that says, “Maybe I’ll pop in later, to drag some more people through the fuckin mud. See you later, Dracu-Laura!”
His modern comparisons of the games to pop cultural milestones are particularly charming: “You can tell this school is fancy because those are the chairs they have at Panera!” he exclaims in Warnings of Waverly Academy.
“THIS IS AMELIE!!!!” He exclaims in Danger by Design, which is set in Paris and the same game where he dies at the fact that a magazine for sale in the game has Hayden Panettiere on the cover. In The Phantom of Venice, he compares the first ⅓ of the game to The Lizzie McGuire Movie, breathlessly and with glee. It is a fucking trip. It’s hilariously funny, and reflects how confusing and frustrating these games are, but in the episodes dedicated to The Phantom of Venice, you watch him fall in love with the card game Scopa in real time, which is something I did when I originally played it. My first iPhone had a Scopa game on it and I still play it on the train to this day. Joseph has since taken to posting Scopa memes on his Twitter and even showed off his iPad with the same Scopa game loaded on it as I have on my phone.
I caught up with Joseph to ask him more about why he decided to take a pretty obscure game series with a niche core audience to play on twitch.
When did you play the Nancy Drew games originally?
I don’t have a big history with the Nancy Drew games. I played Tomb of the Lost Queen about ten years ago when it came out because I’ve always been interested in Egyptology. After that I played Shadow at the Water’s Edge, but didn’t pick up any others until this year.
What did you like about them?
Murder mysteries were my jam growing up, and the Nancy Drew games have a very similar vibe, although usually without the blatant murder. Some of the plots are completely off the wall, but the characters and puzzles and graphics have a special charm, and the games really make you work your brain to progress.
Were you good at the puzzles?
The puzzles are my favorite part, but I am catastrophically bad at them. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve gotten Nancy blown up or crushed under a crumbling wall from failing a puzzle. I know to immediately click Junior Detective when given the option. But not understanding the puzzles at first glance is what I like about them. A lot of games these days don’t make you work much for the outcomes, but the puzzles in Nancy Drew games certainly do. Even when I have to search online for help, learning and understanding the solution is still fun.
What made you decide to play these games on Twitch? They have a fairly niche audience and don’t have the most stunning graphics.
I initially decided to stream the games because several of my viewers had grown up playing them and highly recommended them. The games are also nice and chill and mostly slower paced, so they make commentary and discussion easier. I totally had no idea how amazing the Nancy Drew community was before streaming the games! People pop into the chat who started playing the games twenty years ago. They help me with the puzzles and reminisce on their times with the games and fill me in on the Nancy Drew lore. There’s also a certain amount of patience involved in playing a Nancy Drew game that the audience seems to understand.
Were you at all worried people wouldn’t “get” these games or that your audience might not have played them?
I honestly had no idea what the reaction would be, but it’s like that with any new game I stream. I DEFINITELY did not anticipate the outpouring of love and enthusiasm for the Nancy Drew streams, but I’m very glad it’s there because it’s an enthusiasm I share.
What is your favourite game to play from the series?
I’ve only worked my way through 7 of the 33 games so I’ve got many more to discover, but The Phantom of Venice might be my favorite so far. It’s got wigs, dancing in cat suits, chasing pigeons, stealing jewels, and very dramatic characters.
What has been your favourite game to play on the stream so far?
So far it’s been Danger by Design. Nancy heads to Paris to work undercover with a fashion designer, Minette, and tries to figure out why she’s been acting strangely. Minette wears a mask that she never takes off. The accents are laughably bad and the twist at the end is so hilariously outrageous I fell out of my chair. It made for lively discussion.
Do you plan to stream all the games?
I hope to! Some of the older ones need a little extra work to get them running on modern computers, but I plan on trying my best.
What is it about these games that makes them so watchable on stream?
I think it has a lot to do with the vibe of the games and discussion they invoke. There’s always something to talk about, whether it’s your list of prime suspects or how to solve a puzzle or a character that’s acting strange or the plot getting messy. The pace of the Nancy Drew games may be slower than other games, but there’s certainly a lot of juggle.
What’s been the biggest realization for you playing these games?
I’ve realized how much I’ve missed playing these types of games. A lot of games lately are very fast-paced and action oriented, which I definitely enjoy, but it’s also so nice to slow down with a game that makes you work to figure something out. I’ve also realized how much I’ve missed a good mystery and, since playing the Nancy Drew games, dug out some of my old Agatha Christie books to read.
What’s been the most bizarre moment for you replaying these games on stream?
Some of the Nancy death scenes are wild. Getting blown up in a bathroom in Paris from mixing the wrong photo developing chemicals together was definitely a jarring and morbidly hilarious part of Danger by Design.
What do you love the most about Nancy as a game character?
Nancy is always up for an adventure and goes fearlessly into so many wild situations. Even in just the seven games I’ve played so far, sneaking through the sewers or navigating an abandoned mine is just another day for Nancy. She also never hesitates to put her detractors and naysayers in their place. I wish my comebacks were as good as hers.
The games haven’t aged well politically. You love to call that out. Do you think it’s just funny to do that or do you think it’s important to draw attention to those kinds of things?
I think it’s always important to critique and discuss those aspects of any game. People like to laugh and poke fun at some of the questionable or outright problematic decisions, but the discussion it creates is much more important on many levels. If we never have those conversations or point those things out, future games will never change.
If you love mysteries and don’t mind references to turds, you should give Joseph Birdsong’s Nancy Drew streams a try, which are live on his Twitch and appear later on YouTube.
Find Joseph’s work on Patreon, Twitch and TikTok under Half Moon Joe.