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Christmas at Donner Pass OFFICIAL REVIEW
Hi everyone! I recently finished CDP and wanted to give a full review of my thoughts, breaking the game down piece by piece.
***CAUTION: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD***
For reference, I've been a lifelong fan of the Nancy Drew PC games. I grew up playing them and know them inside and out, and as a lot of you may know, the similarities between the Nancy Drew and Miss Clue series are uncanny, and honestly quite comical. This is an important point to make, though.
The Miss Clue series arose at, basically what I consider to be, the downfall of the Nancy Drew series. An entire established and highly loyal fanbase basically loses everything that made their favorite game series what it was in the name of making things "better," and suddenly the mysterious Miss Clue series appears out of nowhere, reminding that fanbase what was so special about those games they fell in love with, while attracting a new fanbase as well. The charm of the Nancy Drew games that I fell in love with is present in every single Miss Clue game, and you'll never be able to convince me that that is an accident. These games capture the nostalgia that I've longed for while, as CDP has proved, nudging the point-and-click adventure game style into a new direction - something that hasn't proved successful by the Nancy Drew series as of late.
Are the Miss Clue games overall on par with the most recent batch of Nancy Drew games? In my opinion, no. BUT, the investment in CDP has proved that they CAN be. And it's with this thought where I'd like to begin my official review of this brilliant game.
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FEATURES
I want to start by recognizing the new features in this game - mainly the variety of gameplay modes. The inclusion of different navigation options - Cinematic, Glide, and Walk - is honestly one of the smartest decisions that could've been made. Coming from someone who lived through the drama of "point-and-click vs full motion" leading up to the most recent Nancy Drew PC game release, the ability to CHOOSE what kind of navigation I'd like to experience is GOLDEN and honestly the best way to enhance the traditional point-and-click game style. This way, if I prefer the traditional point-and-click Cinematic style, I can play the game that way. If I prefer a more immersive walk motion style, I can play the same game that way as well. Honestly a BRILLIANT decision and I applaud the team for rolling this out. I have yet to play a game that allows for navigation options such as this, so what a fantastic move to still adhere to the point-and-click junkies while also expanding to the full motion fans. 1000/10
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PLOT
I think the initial plot was captivating and super classic - I love a good haunted house. But THEN, the entire game kind of changes, and at first I wasn't sure how to feel about it, but at the same time, it was SO interesting and honestly, something that I don't think has really been done before, and for that reason, I applaud the team for going this route. The painting concept introduced was a tad strange at first, but mostly because it's not your typical haunted house plot. To me, it was an interesting twist.
Also in regards to that, I also wasn't sure how to feel about a mystery not being grounded in realism. Coming from the Nancy Drew series where EVERYTHING has a logical, realistic explanation, for this mystery to basically not have one was an interesting choice. It more borders on fantasy, and I feel like I'm STILL not sure how I feel about it xD. But at the same time, there ARE instances of unexplained, illogical phenomena and human experiences in the real world, so my internal argument is, why not explore that? Why does EVERYTHING have to have a logical, realistic explanation? Maybe there's room for those experiences in the Miss Clue universe? All in all, I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but all I know is, the plot kept my interest the entire way through and I consider that a success. 8/10
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CHARACTERS
I thought the character lineup pretty good, but I was honestly more intrigued with the Reed family than anyone else. Their story and dialogue captured my interest more than the gardener and handyman. Cecilia and her story seemed a bit unnecessary and out of place, in my opinion, but I did enjoy exploring the London environment! It made me want a Miss Clue game set in modern-day London so bad!
One thing I was a little disappointed in was the lack of dialogue choices. I wasn't a fan of the fact that, unlike previous games, the characters weren't static, set in one place, always available for me to go up and interrogate. I think it was because of this situation, that there was a lack of dialogue choices. I like being able to control where the conversation goes and ask characters different questions and, in turn, receive different answers. The dialogue seemed more story-based than choose-your-own-adventure-based, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it was something that I missed from the older Miss Clue games. 6/10
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GRAPHICS
I LOVED the updated environmental graphics! The moving clouds, plants blowing in the wind, fog, door opening animation - it was AMAZING, and, once again, a great way to enhance the traditional point-and-click game style. The character graphics seemed similar to the previous Miss Clue games, which isn't terrible, but I was hoping character graphics could improve in the same way as the environment. I think this is a GREAT start for the future of Miss Clue and I can't wait to see what they have in store next graphics-wise. 8/10
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GAMEPLAY
Being one of the first to play the game, I of course ran into my fair share of bugs, glitches, and game crashes. While I LOVE the fact that the developers are able to release updates to the game in real-time, I do expect a game to be in working order once I purchase it.
Because of this, I think it would be VERY beneficial for the developers to utilize a beta testing system with fans, similar to Attics of Pemberley. I think this way, they'd be able to test on multiple different computers and systems and get the same feedback we all gave them over the first few days of the release BEFORE the actual release, so that it is as polished and clean as can be before officially releasing it. Plus, it gives a few lucky fans a sneak preview which is always fun for us ;). To me, I'd rather wait an extra few months to play a polished game, rather than instantly play a bug and glitch-filled game.
Other than that, I think the game overall was a pretty good length! I remember Peril in Pemberley being SUPER long (which has its pros and cons, but honestly I loved how long it was), but CDP seemed to be a little longer in length than Formula for Danger. It took me about 4 nights to finish it, but also factor in some time for game crashes and restarts. Overall, a pretty decent length! Gameplay I'm giving a 6/10 because of the glitchy rollout.
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PUZZLES
The game isn't chock full of puzzles which, in my honest opinion is FANTASTIC. It became all too common in the Nancy Drew series for games to be too puzzle-heavy, and for puzzles to be pretty illogically placed and blatantly obvious that they only exist to just be a puzzle and take up game time. So I wholeheartedly LOVE the fact that the Miss Clue games are very exploration-based, with puzzles being logically placed and actually relevant to the plot. The timed puzzles made me ANXIOUS but I love that xD. I wouldn't change the puzzles one bit in this game. I'd love to see Miss Clue continue to be exploration-based. 10/10
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MUSIC
It might've just been the glitches in my game, but I struggled with the background music. To me, background music is SO important in a mystery. It just further enhances the atmosphere. And for me, the music either wasn't very apparent or it just wasn't there all together.
When I first started the game, there was a nice double soundtrack - one music piece for outside, one music piece for inside the mansion. It was pretty inconsistent because of the glitches, but I loved the music when I heard it. At some point, though, those two setting-specific soundtracks were replaced with a very low, hard-to-hear repetitive piano piece that played no matter where I was. Did this happen to anyone else? Either way, I was kind of sad about the music and I'm hoping that maybe a future update will fix the issues I had and that music will be more apparent in future releases. Setting-specific music ROCKS and just MAKES the atmosphere of a game. 4/10
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THINGS I LOVED
A general list of random things in the game I loved:
- Jane's sheep! I loved that she took her sheep along. I hope she always does. I wish she said "I love my sheep."
- The VFK logos on random objects. This just adds to the charm of the game and is something that used to be a running gag in the older Nancy Drew games but they for whatever reason ended up doing away with it. I love a good easter egg like that!
- Meeting the gardener for the first time! I honestly was kind of hoping he was actually dead because I thought incorporating a murder into the mystery would've been amazing. I think just the initial thought that he was dead was shocking enough to earn a place on this list because it was just graphic enough to make you go WOW, but not too graphic so that it was all about the gore.
- NANCY!! I have to say, any hardcore Nancy Drew fan from back in the day who knows the urban legend of the "little ghost girl" that supposedly appears in Nancy's room in Message in a Haunted Mansion will SCREAM when they first meet Nancy. Because let me tell you, meeting Nancy the first time gave me flashbacks to trying all these random game scenarios to find a little ghost girl that someone claimed was in a Nancy Drew game (spoiler alert: she doesn't actually exist xD) The first time meeting Nancy was just SO eerie and the atmosphere and the way it all played out was PERFECT. There's NOTHING creepier than ghost children. Chills!!!
- THE SHADOW PEOPLE!! Man was that creepy! And it was kind of a difficult puzzle for me to figure out! But boy, did I love it.
- Hands down, the best part of this game in my opinion was Mr. Reed's fear. It got GRUESOME and I honestly LOVED it. Jumpscare after jumpscare and the incorporation of the infamous Donner Pass story - absolutely perfect. I LOVE when a game isn't afraid to get just a tad bit graphic. To me, the idea of getting chased by humans who are trying to literally eat you is so delicious in a morbid sort of way, and makes for a great WOW factor in this game.
- Also, as I said above, the new navigation features!! ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!!
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THINGS I WISH WE HAD
A general list of things I would've done differently or that I wish the game had:
- I REALLY wish the game had more of an emphasis on the Donner Pass story. I love HOW it was incorporated into the game through Mr. Reed's fear, but I feel like it was brushed over until that final fear and I think having Jane, and more importantly the player, learn more about the Donner Pass story would've set that scene and backstory up much better. I know about the Donner Pass story because I've read about it outside of the game, but I feel like for a player who doesn't know the full story, it might make the Reed's backstory a little confusing.
- More dialogue options as I stated above. I love choosing which responses Jane should say and even clicking on questions to ask, and there wasn't much of that in this game. To me, it just adds to the interactivity and reinforces the idea that I AM Jane.
- Static characters - Like I said above, as well, I really wish that the gardener and handyman were set in certain places and always available for me to go up and talk to like in previous games.
- I noticed that there were A LOT of surfaces I couldn't investigate, drawers I couldn't open, books I couldn't look at, and objects I couldn't click on. I think, even if they play NO part in the actual mystery, having those types of random things to click on and interact with, maybe with comments from Jane (like "What a beautiful piano", etc.), would just enhance the environment of the game. With exploration being so important in the Miss Clue series, I feel like having those random objects to click on, investigate, and read, would be amazing and add so much.
- PHONE FRIENDS!!! Boy do I miss calling Aunt Ellen! I really wish they'd incorporate some phone friends in the game, just to discuss the mystery with and maybe get some hints from them. I would love to be able to call Aunt Ellen again, or even Nixie & Rad, or maybe even Anne from Formula for Danger. I think it would add so much personality to the games and it would even extend gameplay time!
- An auto-save feature would be LIFESAVING! This was finally incorporated into the most recent Nancy Drew game and it's honestly a feature I think EVERY game should have, where every time you enter a new main location, your game automatically saves. I think that would be a new feature worth exploring for future releases.
- One thing I wish we could have is a quicker way to switch navigation modes. There were times when I felt like Walking mode would be better than Cinematic but going to the menu, then to Game Settings, then to Continue Game was somewhat tedious to me. I wonder if there's a way to incorporate a quick mode-switch option on the main interface?
- While I felt satisfied that all turned out well in the end, I was kind of sad there really wasn't an actual culprit and that justice for the wrongdoings to the Reed family wasn't really met in the grand scheme of things. All along, I was hoping that someone was the painter in disguise and that we would be able to get justice for the family, but that never really happened. It's not a terrible thing, but it's just something I noticed that I missed.
- While I know Mintie has brought up a fast-convo feature (which I think is GREAT!), overall, I wish that cutscene dialogue was a bit shorter. I felt like the train scene and steak dinner scene in particular dragged on too long and made me lose a bit of interest. I feel like cutting those dialogues in half could allow for additional cutscenes to enhance certain parts of the story that could use more enhancement, or just general mystery time.
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Overall, I give Christmas at Donner Pass a 7/10! A SOLID addition to the Miss Clue game lineup - great length, AMAZING new features, and a captivating not-what-you-expect story that touches on SUCH an interesting piece of history. The game definitely has its flaws as I pointed out from my perspective, but overall I genuinely enjoyed this game and I feel like this is almost a new beginning for the Miss Clue universe. The introduction of these new features, I feel like I can't praise enough - they're literally the gateway to SO many possibilities for future games which makes me so excited.
A huge HUGE thanks to @VFK_Mintie and the rest of the Miss Clue development team for working so hard to put out this amazing game and for working so tirelessly alongside us fans to fix bugs and release updates as fast as possible. I appreciate everything you've done for us so much! Thank you for another great game and I CAN'T wait for the next one. (Curse of the Devil's Heart???? :O ;))
I know this was a LITERAL 900 PAGE BOOK, but if you made it this far, THANK YOU! And thank you, as always, for being such a welcoming group of sleuths! I know I'm not that active on here, but I appreciate the friendship of every person I meet on here!
I'd love to hear everyone else's thoughts too! What did you guys think of Christmas at Donner Pass? What did you love? What would you do differently?
Christmas at Donner Pass
- What would YOU rate Christmas at Donner Pass?
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so many questions and NO DONUTS
THANK YOU TACO CAT!! <3
Comments
Thanks so much for reading! & oh man wouldn't a continuation be so fun?? Maybe we'll keep finding van Bloed paintings in future games as easter eggs??
so many questions and NO DONUTS
THANK YOU TACO CAT!! <3
Completed Games:
.."I think there is far more to this Robbery than one might suppose..." -Jane Darcy `·-·`.....)¸.·°¨¯¨°·¸
.......................................................................................¸·°¨¯¨°·.¸....².....¸.·°¨¯¨°·.,¸_¸,.·`..³..`·-·`
............................................................³ `·-·`......`·.,¸_¸,.·`
so many questions and NO DONUTS
THANK YOU TACO CAT!! <3
Completed Games:
.."I think there is far more to this Robbery than one might suppose..." -Jane Darcy `·-·`.....)¸.·°¨¯¨°·¸
.......................................................................................¸·°¨¯¨°·.¸....².....¸.·°¨¯¨°·.,¸_¸,.·`..³..`·-·`
............................................................³ `·-·`......`·.,¸_¸,.·`