Back to Store|#32 Nancy Drew: Sea of Darkness

About Game

Price:
$19.99
Ages:
10 to Adult
Status:
Retail Release May 19, 2015

Game Story

Nancy Drew®: Sea of Darkness

Set a Course for Danger and Discovery!

The celebrated ship “Heerlijkheid,” is usually the centerpiece of an Icelandic town’s local festival. Now that its captain has disappeared, the renovated vessel has become an eerie distraction. Did Captain Magnus sail away with a legendary treasure, or was he carried off into the night? Take the helm as detective Nancy Drew and set a course for the Sea of Darkness!

Free Strategy Guide with Game

You’ll get this free strategy guide walkthrough with your purchase of the game from Her Interactive.

Already own the game? You can purchase the Official Digital Strategy guide here!

Reviews

"Nancy Drew isn’t new to the mystery-solving business; by her 32nd game, she’s seen just about every type of kooky character, head-scratching puzzle and nefarious deed that the world can throw at an eternally teenaged sleuth. That’s what makes it especially impressive that Her Interactive’s newest installment, Nancy Drew: Sea of Darkness manages to feel fresh and lively, throwing new questions and obstacles at the snoop who’s seen it all. Veteran fans will be satiated and newcomers piqued by this chilly, devious case." -- Just Adventure

"Nancy Drew: Sea of Darkness presented a well-woven plot to uncover, an interesting back-story of both the characters and the town, and a set of puzzles and circumstances that were challenging, but not frustratingly difficult. If you’re a seasoned player of the Nancy Drew mysteries, I think you’ll be pleased with this entertaining title. If you’re a new player, looking for the perfect game out of the 32 to get started with, I’d highly recommend this one as a prime example of the quality of the series. The price point is well worth the hours of enjoyment you’ll receive from solving a mystery alongside the most famous young female detective of all time. So grab a copy and, as Her Interactive challenges you to do in the opening titles, “Dare to Play.”" -- Computer Times

"Sea of Darkness is highly entertaining and charming to boot. The characters have deep backstories, the puzzles offer a fun a workout for your brain, and the lovable romantic conversations between Ned and Nancy make this game an absolute must for every Nancy Drew collection. It would’ve been great if the story and gameplay were longer, but at least it can be easily replayed. The trophies do give players a reason to go back and try to earn all of them in one playthrough. If you’re looking to jump into Nancy’s shoes and experience an Icelandic mystery, or if you want to add a new game to your Nancy Drew collection, Sea of Darkness will put a smile in your face and add warmth to your heart." -- BAGOGAMES

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"As a newcomer, I was pleasantly surprised with how comfortable it was for me to engage in the 32nd title developed by Her Interactive. Sea of Darkness has definitely made me eager to play the other games.  The formula, while getting on in age, still works so avid fans won’t be disappointed.  My only critique is that they perhaps upgrade their content so it supports widescreen as black bars should be a thing of the past.  Nancy Drew is by far one of the best point and click adventures I have ever played.  Sea of Darkness is filled with complicated puzzles and a captivating cast of suspects.  This mystery will surely test your abilities." -- True PC Gaming

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"Overall, an intriguing mystery, strong acting, and a variety of interesting places to explore overcame the lack of proper puzzle integration for me. Sea of Darknessmay not be the best Nancy Drew adventure in the series, but other than some frustrating progress blocks, I was happy to spend time wandering around a desolate, icy world exploring both the town and its people, uncovering and shedding light on the darkness." -- Adventure Gamers

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"Nancy Drew: Sea of Darkness takes you on a journey to the snowy Skipbrot, on a mission to find Magnus. The great graphics and nice background music makes it a joy to play, while the voice overs and the sound effects are the cherry on the pie. The gameplay is the same like the previous games, but you got the possibility to earn money and get souvenirs but don’t forget your main goal though." -- 3rd Strike Games

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"Overall I was pleasantly surprised by this game. The game looks better than I expected, had an interesting story, and difficult puzzles that kept me in to the game. While this style of game may not be everyone's favorite, for those who do enjoy it this game comes highly recommended. Even those who are not as interested in the genre should check this game out, and will probably enjoy it like I did." -- PoisonKiwi

"Girls and women playing Nancy Drew Sea of Darkness will talk to a variety of characters. This helps unlock new areas, acquire items, and learn the story. Nancy Drew Sea of Darkness looks really nice. I enjoyed seeing the different areas and characters." -- Family Friendly Gaming

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"Overall Sea of Darkness was an enjoyable game, especially if you enjoy "brain teaser" puzzles that are more challenging than what's found in today's casual games." -- GameBoomers

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Nancy Drew: Sea of Darkness
Average rating:  
 109 reviews
 by monique
ehh

not the worst but def not the best, find myself getting bored, nothing exciting and the puzzles are uninteresting. graffics are good but honestly I miss the old games, with too much pointless things to look at u get side track and when the story line isn't super interesting its easy to loose interest and just want to look up the answers to finish. just not my cup of tea

 by Emma
Fantastic Game

I have been playing Nancy Drew games since I was young, and have played almost every single ND game. I have been disappointed in a lot of the newer ones, as my favourites have been Message in a Haunted Mansion, Treasure in the Royal Tower, Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake. I find the newer ones either don't have a great story, are too predictable, or the puzzles don't fit in well with the storyline. However, that changed with this game. I think it is my new favourite! It is a long game with great puzzles, lots of twists and turns, great characters, and the graphics are just beautiful. Seeing the aurora borealis in the game was so so cool. I recommend this installment to every ND fan, this game really has it all!

 by Alexandra
We have a winner here!

Besides Ghost of Thornton Hall, Sea of Darkness is now one of my all-time favorite Nancy Drew games. The darkness of an Arctic winter is an eerie and beautiful backdrop (and a definitive change from other games, as you never see sunlight in this game), and I had a blast learning about the culture of Iceland.

I'll just cut to the chase. I absolutely love the design of the Heerlijkheid (the ship in the game). At times, it looks so real, and I love how it actually serves as a major plot point in the game (no spoilers here!).

While I always love the soundtracks in Nancy Drew games, something about the music of Sea of Darkness is something special. Each song touches the human spirit in a way that I can only describe as magical. And "The Word I Couldn't Keep" is such a beautiful song...a masterpiece. I hope you guys keep creating original songs for your games.

What else can I say? Icelandic history: check. Gorgeous winter landscapes: check. Fun characters with tons of personality: check. Hard but fun puzzles: check. Gorgeous music: check.

We have a winner here!

 by Jordan

This is one for the books! Like many other reviewers have said, this game has a LOT of puzzles. As someone who has played since I was a little girl, though, I found that to be a huge perk - it's definitely one of my favorites since the originals.

The graphics are amazing, the characters were given room to develop, and the plot moved along fairly seamlessly.

My one and only complaint? I didn't have to think or try at all to foil the culprit's plans. No rush of adrenaline at the end.

Still, 5/5 from me - truly a fantastic addition. If you're looking for your next game, this is the one to try.

 by Kristen&Dad
Attention to Detail

My daughter and I found this to be one of the better games we've played in the series. Having taken a vacation to Iceland last summer, we were impressed with the attention to details. Little things like calling the ancient stories "sagas" gave the story an authentic feel. The main characters in the story were well written and we enjoyed learning more about them as the mystery unfolds. Most of the puzzles were manageable, and the hint system is designed much nicer than the earlier games. Overall, this one was well written entertaining, and a worthwhile purchase.

 by Pizzagf97

Nancy drew is just something that you can take from my life, like it's been a part from my life since the end of elementary school (Im in university now). Every series hold memory for me, and waiting for the next series is always on my annual year calendar. Sea of darkness is justttt satisfting my annual nancy drew craving. Like, from the plot itself , is greeat (even tho looking for a treasure is just so "normal" for detective games, but treasure hunting in iceland is kind of different level right) i like it. The graphic is justtt amazing, very smooth and beautifuly picture. My favourite part is the characters- i lovee how detil the characters been pictured, they have strong personality, but as you get to know them, you can dig more ! And that's just amazing & deep, really like real human. I always love Nancy & Ned story, also i hope we can have more choices on conversation that lead to different response. The places is okay, and so mant places & things to snoop on which i really LOVE! The puzzles is okay (not those that really2 impossiblw to crack), and i really like that we gotta do unexpected/certain thing like very clever thing to keep proceed. Hello this is mystery games after all, so i love the fact that Sea of darkness give balance possible
Puzzle and clever moves to do. Last, what's really memorable and different from other games, is the song! I think it's genious & brilliant for HER INTERACTIVE to add this. I keep listening to it even after 2 years playing. The lyrics is very poetic, the singer voice is fantastic, and the song it self is beautiful. But the ending/culprit is not that surprising, i wish for a plot twist, so it's kind of okay..

 by Aaron F.
THE BEST ND GAME EVER

Sea of Darkness is the best game ever made by HeR Interactive. It makes me want to visit Iceland. It's immersive, beautiful, and fun. The story is possibly the best of any ND game. (SAW would have to be a close second, SPY third).

Let's break it down.

Gameplay - 8/10

I love the interface that HeR has been using since TMB. I give any game with this interface a small boost in ratings for having this convenient, appealing interface. However, a poorly explained game or two coupled with the fact that point-and-click always has its drawbacks knocks this rating down a touch.

Plot - 8/10

As a writer, I'm reluctant to rate any video game's plot highly. But SEA got me to give it the highest plot rating I've ever given a game. Everything is coherent and moves along smoothly. SEA is a well-paced game that has plenty of means for moving forward, making getting stuck a rare occurrence.

Setting - 10/10

If I could give this an 11/10, I would. Iceland is gorgeous and this game reflects that perfectly. I want to go to Iceland now. Where are those elusive free plane tickets?

Characters - 9/10

Each character was realistic and had several sides, just like a good character should. I even enjoyed Alex Trang, who was only a phone character. Filling out the backstories to characters has done wonders for the Nancy Drew games that have done so. SEA is a great example.

Culprit - 8/10

No spoilers -- I'll keep this simple. The character and his/her motivation make perfect sense. Well done on this one. Culprits are hard to get just right, but HeR definitely nailed it on this particular culprit.

Puzzles - 8/10

Let me be clear -- I hate puzzles. I think they are completely unnecessary and I would not find anything amiss with an entirely puzzle-free ND game that was just talking to suspects, exploring, and finding clues. But I loved this game and its many puzzles. Every one was doable, though not necessarily easy for me.

Overall Rating - 51/60 or 8.5/10 or 4.25 out of 5. But my rating has a full 5th star for "The Word I Couldn't Keep". I didn't even mention how awesome the soundtrack was. I feel it deserves recognition, though. I still listen to the soundtrack on a regular basis, 2 years after I finished the game.

 by Taylor
Too many puzzles

I have been playing Nancy Drew Games since the 3rd one came out and I have to say this one is not my favorite. Obviously the graphics and story line were great but what got me was every corner I turned to, there was yet another puzzle. To me, there were so many that they became a buzz kill for the mystery solving part. I think the worst part was when I had to cook, it ended up being made into a puzzle. Again, to me, sometimes when I can't solve a puzzle or am stuck in a spot, it's kind of nice to have something to go to that you are able to make improvements on to take a break.

 by Tianna
not too much sleuthing

Out of all the Nancy Drew games I've played, this one was my least favorite. You didn't have to do much clue-finding, or sneaking around or talking to any sketchy people. The most suspense I felt was going about the caves and that ended up not being very fun. The puzzles were challenging but you did so many of them that by the end of the game I just wanted to finish it and get it over with, I didn't care if I used the solutions that the game provides. The setting was interesting and the story was pretty good as well I just couldn't get over the amount of puzzles. The only part I really loved was the graphics. They were very beautiful and seamless!

 by Cara
Favorite ND game BY FAR

Plot: 9.5/10
Characters: 10/10
Town/Scenery: 10/10
Puzzles:8/10

From the first moment of creating a game and arriving in the little town in Iceland, I knew this game was going to be a winner. I am a sucker for anything even remotely close to pirate-esque and lost treasure oriented. This was no exception!
I enjoyed the fact that there were so many places to explore. The last ND game I played was The Silent Spy, and it drove me crazy only being able to visit like 3 places.
I absolutely loved exploring the ship.
The puzzles are almost entirely math oriented and very similar to one another. I enjoyed them very much but after a while I was hoping for a little more of a challenge!
Overall, fantastic game! I would definitely play it again!

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ESRB Rating:

Rated E10 for ages 10 and up

Price:

$19.99

Ages:

10 to Adult

Status:

Retail Release May 19, 2015

Operating System:

Windows® Vista/7/8/10/11

Mac OS X: 10.6.8 Snow Leopard/10.7 Lion/10.8 Mountain Lion/10.9 Mavericks/10.10 Yosemite/10.11 El Capitan/10.12 Sierra/High Sierra.

NOTE: Will NOT run on Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, or higher Mac operating systems

Windows Minimum System Requirements:

  • 1.5 GHz or greater Pentium 4 CPU or equivalent class
  • 512 MB of RAM
  • 3GB or more hard drive space
  • 128 MB DirectX 9.0 compatible video card
  • 16 bit DirectX compatible sound card
  • 4x DVD drive
  • Keyboard, mouse and speakers

Mac Minimum System Requirements:

  • 1.5 GHz or greater Intel processor
  • 512 MB RAM
  • 3 GB or more hard drive space
  • Intel GMA X3100, ATI X1600, NVIDIA 7300 graphics card or better
  • 4x DVD drive
  • Keyboard, mouse and speakers
  • Internet connection the first time the game is launched
  • This game will NOT run on PowerPC (G3/G4/G5) based Mac systems (PowerMac)
  • macOS Operating System 10.13 High Sierra or prior

Read End User License Agreement (EULA)

  • Solve puzzles and interrogate suspects as you retrace the steps of the missing captain
  • Learn the truth about the Heerlijkheid’s secret past and Iceland’s darkest days
  • Earn money by mastering your knowledge of the Land of Fire and Ice
  • Master maritime knots, terms and seaworthy tasks dating back to the 1700s
  • Sleuth at Amateur or Master level and erase any mistakes without starting over
  • Learn about the Icelandic language
  • Identify ship sails
  • Replace and connect spark plugs in your boat
  • Assemble a music box

Game Characteristics

  • Point & Click Gameplay
  • Mystery Adventure Genre
  • Interactive Storyline
  • Strong Female Protagonist
  • Rich and Intriguing Characters
  • Single Player Game
  • First Person POV
  • Subtle Hints System
  • Challenging Puzzles
  • Gorgeous Environments
  • Detective Investigation
  • Immersive Controls
  • Realistic Settings

SeaDar1

Soren Bergursson

Although Soren grew up ten miles from Skipbrot, he is considered an outsider and isn’t treated very well by his fellow residents. His vast education and knowledge of all things Icelandic aid in his running of the Culture Center and drive his fascination with local artifacts. He claims to be tired of hearing everyone talk about the treasure, but perhaps he’s secretly plotting to find the treasure himself?

Is Soren Bergursson a suspect?

Elísabet Grimursdóttir

A born and bred local, Elisabet helps Soren run the Ancestors’ Festival and controls access to the Heerlijkheid. Could her recent breakup with Magnus have inspired her to take revenge?

Does Elisabet Grimursdottir have a motive for revenge?

Magnus Kiljansson

Magnus is the captain working on the Heerlijkheid’s restoration. He was supposed to safely steer the ship into the town’s port to kick-off the Ancestors’ Festival, but when the ship arrived, it crashed into the harbor unmanned, with Magnus nowhere to be found. Is it possible Magnus located the treasure and abandoned ship? Or did something much more sinister cause his mysterious disappearance?

Why did Magnus Kiljansson mysteriously disappear?

Dagny Silva

As the manager of the ship’s restoration and a renowned treasure hunter, Dagny is furious with her business partner Magnus for disappearing. She suspects he went looking for the gold, found it, and took off, leaving her behind to clean up the mess. Dagny hires Nancy to track Magnus down and bring him to justice. But could Dagny know something she’s not letting on?

Is Dagny Silva hiding something?

Gunnar Tonnisson

A grumpy old sailor who yearns for the “olden days,” Gunnar is not shy about voicing his concerns regarding the way the festival is being managed. He doesn’t care about treasure hunting, and claims the town’s traditions and history are what really matter. Could Gunnar be harboring a hidden agenda to disrupt the festival?

Does Gunnar Tonnisson have a sinister motive?

Phone Contacts:

Ned Nickerson

Returning as a phone contact, Ned is always available to provide Nancy with any support or help she might need. Call him often and keep him up to speed on your adventures so that he can provide additional tips.

Ned Nickerson, who offers helpful sleuthing tips

Alex Trang

Alex is a contact at the Rekyjavik Harbormaster’s control tower. She and Magnus communicate by radio whenever he is on board the Heerlijkheid. Could she have any insights to Magnus’ disappearance the day the ship crashed?

Can Alex Trang provide a clue to the puzzle?

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