Nancy Drew: Midnight in Salem

Midnight in Salem is the thirty-third game to release in the Nancy Drew Adventure game series and one of the most anticipated games HeR Interactive has made.

Available on: Windows 7 64-bit or later. OS X 10.11 El Capitan or higher – Metal 1.1 capable.
ESRB: E10+ for Everyone 10+
PC/Mac Release Date: December 3, 2019
Release MSRP: $21.99 USD
Current MSRP: $21.99 USD
Number of Discs: 1
Game Abbreviation: MID
Inspired by/Based on: Nancy Drew Mystery Stories Hardback #33: The Witch Tree Symbol

Game Description: Nancy Drew unexpectedly finds herself in Salem, Massachusetts investigating an arson on the Hathorne estate. The Hathorne House was originally constructed by Judge John Hathorne, inquisitor of the infamous Salem witch trials and the final home to 102-year-old Frances Tuttle, his last direct descendant. When Tuttle passed away, the estate became city property and while the mayor was seeking a manager to oversee the estate the home burst into flames. The ongoing investigation has turned up little evidence but concerned citizens have accused Mei Parry of arson and are pressuring the police to arrest the secretive teenager. As Nancy races to uncover the truth behind the arson, she discovers connections to the house’s past with the Salem trials and finds herself drawn into a struggle with supernatural events that she simply can’t explain. Nancy’s convictions are put to the test. Are the ghosts real? Has Salem’s dark history come to life, or is there someone else to blame? Time is short, and Nancy must find the answers before the clock strikes midnight.
PC Minimum System Requirements: Intel Core i3 3.00 GHz or AMD equivalent. 4 GB RAM (absolute minimum – 6 GB RAM recommended). Intel HD 4000, 1 GB of video RAM. DirectX 11 or higher. 8 GB storage space. Mouse, keyboard, and speakers.
PC Recommended System Requirements: Windows 10 64 bit. Intel Core i5 (6th Generation) 3.0GHz. 8 GB RAM. NVIDIA GTX-960 or AMD Radeon R9 270X. DirectX 11. 10 GB storage space. Keyboard, mouse, speakers.
Mac Recommended System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.13.4. 3.0 GHz Intel Core i5 or better. 16 GB RAM. 2GB NVIDIA 680MX, 2GB AMD R9 M290 or better. 8 GB storage space. Keyboard, mouse, speakers.
Mac Minimum System Requirements: Intel Core i3 3.00 GHz. 4 GB RAM (absolute minimum – 6 GB RAM recommended). Intel HD 4000, 1 GB of video RAM. 8 GB storage space. Mouse, keyboard, and speakers.

Teaser Trailer 1

Teaser Trailer 2

The original teaser trailer for Midnight in Salem featured at the end of Sea of Darkness. This was created in the old engine by the original development team.

The official teaser trailer that was released for the new version of Midnight in Salem developed by Mi'pu'mi Games and a bunch of other outsourced companies.

Fun Facts:

Midnight in Salem was supposed to release in 2015, but got delayed to 2016 when HeR announced the switch from their current engine to a new Unity-based engine.
HeR Interactive had a schedule of releasing 2 games per year which meant it took them 6-9 months to make a game from start to finish. They kept with this schedule for 14 years before they started making Midnight in Salem. The game released over 4 and a half years after the launch of Sea of Darkness.
In 2016, HeR released the character concept designs that had been completed. There were initially 5 characters: Mei Parris, Teegan Parris, Deirdre Shannon, Lauren Corey, and Jenna Ravencraft.
On May 23, 2017, Little Jackalope replied to a comment on the Amateur Sleuth Blog asking if they had any female in-house programmers at that time. Little Jackalope responded by revealing that their programmers and art team were being outsourced.
On December 19, 2017, HeR announced that they were going to target a release date of spring 2019. When spring came around and there was no official release date or game, many fans were really upset. They didn't fully understand that a targeted release date isn't an official release date.
On January 4, 2019, HeR announced that the Hardy Boys were officially going to be in Midnight in Salem.
On January 31, 2019, HeR announced that they were going to unveil a brand-new character the next day on February 1, 2019. When the next day rolled around, they released character art for Judge Danforth. From then on, HeR kept releasing more concept art for new characters such as Jason Danforth and Alicia Cole. After that, HeR began releasing re-drawn character concepts for the characters announced in 2016 and changing multiple characters' names. Jenna Ravencraft was changed to Olivia Ravencroft, Lauren Corey was changed to Lauren Holt, and Teegan and Mei Parris were changed to Teegan and Mei Parry.
This is the first game in the PC/Mac adventure series to feature a new voice for Nancy Drew.
Midnight in Salem went through three logo phases: the logo in the teaser at the end of Sea of Darkness, the marketing logo from 2016-2019, and the official release logo on the box art and in-game.
HeR Interactive initially only made 10000 physical copies of MID for release. They also didn't make any physical copies for Mac computers. Their reasoning was "Most Mac computers don't have disc drives anymore." In reality, most PC and Mac computers don't have disc drives anymore so they technically could've just done a digital-only release. However, fans of the games really like to have the physical copies for their personal collections so that was surmised to be a driving reason for making physical copies for PC.
Mark Tolleshaug was re-hired to create the cover art and packaging for Midnight in Salem.
Jonah von Spreecken and Rob Jones returned to voice Frank and Joe Hardy for this game.
This is the first Nancy Drew game designed to play in a 16:9 aspect ratio. All the previous games were designed in a 4:3 aspect ratio due to the limitations of HeR's proprietary game engine.
The original pre-order and release dates for MID were scheduled for October 1, 2019 for pre-orders and November 19, 2019 for the release date. On the morning of October 1, 2019, HeR pushed back the pre-order and release date by two weeks. The official pre-order date for MID was now October 15, 2019 and the release date December 3, 2019. The aftermath of this last-minute decision wasn't received well by the fans.
Katie Chironis, the writer for Sea of Darkness, had already written a script for Midnight in Salem before she got laid off. She said she has no plans to release the original script any time soon.
The game page for Midnight in Salem in HeR Interactive's website has gone through many changes. The original game description (written by Katie Chironis for HeR's internal wiki) was used as the official game description for a few years before it was replaced on May 1, 2019. There were also a limited number of game features that were listed as well as character descriptions being changed.
On October 11, 2019, HeR released a music track from Midnight in Salem called 'Main Theme' composed by Ryan Ricks. This song was very well received by the community as it reminded fans of past soundtracks such as Warnings at Waverly Academy and Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake, both composed by Kevin Manthei. In an episode of "Unlocked! The Nancy Drew Podcast" hosted by Tammy Tuckey, it was revealed by Ricks that he was in conversation with Manthei to get some tips when it came to scoring a Nancy Drew game.
On September 27, 2019, HeR released the official game features and system requirements for Midnight in Salem.
On November 8, 2019, Little Jackalope confirmed that Meaghan Halverson (voice of Deirdre in Alibi in Ashes and The Deadly Device) will be returning to play Deirdre in Midnight in Salem.
On November 16, 2019, HeR Interactive held a panel at GeekGirlCon 2019 where they showed off the first, real-time gameplay for Midnight in Salem.
This is the first Nancy Drew game to feature an auto-save feature that occurs at various points while playing.
This is the first game where you can talk to characters and move around the world at the same time.
The game is still point and click, but to get from one scene to the other, there is a gliding motion. Once you arrive at a scene, you can look around freely to explore everything.
Inventory items are now 3D and can be examined by rotating them.
The main menu and user interface for the game had a massive re-design and are now incredibly minimalist in color, style, and size. For some fans, this lack of "character" was hard to get used to.
When in conversation with characters, the design of the dialogue boxes have changed, but they still function similarly to what was used in past games.
HeR Interactive officially announced the new voice of Nancy Drew to be played by Brittany Cox on November 29, 2019. It was also mentioned that Brittany is married to Ryan Ricks, the game's music composer.
HeR Interactive released the official trailer for the game on November 30, 2019 at 3:00 PM. A lot of fans were concerned that the trailer released only 3 days before the game released. After the trailer released, there was a huge uproar from fans about how unfinished the game looked. Some fans even cancelled their pre-orders because of it.
This is the first Nancy Drew PC game to not have a teaser trailer at the end of the game since The Final Scene.
In the credits for Midnight in Salem, the original development team from HeR Interactive who worked on the game in 2015 before the layoffs were all credited and honored. They also played the opening title animation from Tomb of the Lost Queen to Sea of Darkness with the original theme song by Kevin Manthei as a post-credits homage.
This is the first Nancy Drew PC game since Resorting to Danger! to not have the game's soundtrack available for purchase.
All the original pre-ordered physical copies of the game had a printing defect on the front cover and spine of the case, as well as the disc. The title of the game "Midnight in Salem" was incredibly faded and almost impossible to see clearly. HeR Interactive later fixed this and offered free replacements for those who got a printing defect and emailed them privately, however the replacements were never publicly offered.
In March 2020, HeR Interactive released a patch for the Steam version of Midnight in Salem which allowed players to plug in a game controller and play it with a new form of gameplay.
In April 2020, HeR ordered another 5000 physical copies of Midnight in Salem for their online store despite having confirmed multiple times that once the original 10000 had sold they wouldn't order any more physical copies of the game. This most likely occurred to try and fix the issues with the initial pre-orders.
When you call any of the characters while standing right beside them, the characters mouth along with the answering machine dialogue. In other words, the game was scripted so that the answering machine dialogue originated from the characters whether or not they were onscreen instead of having the dialogue originate from the cell phone itself.
This was the first game to have an opening letter since Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon.
Danni Krehbiel was originally cast and recorded as Mei Parris, however when the game’s script was re-written and other changes were made during development, they re-cast Mei to be voiced by Reba Buhr.

Midnight in Salem News

All the news videos made by Huw Miller covering the latest on Midnight in Salem leading up to the game's release.

Countdown to MID

A fun video series written by Corrie Shoemaker leading up to the release of MID.

Image Gallery
Characters
Walkthrough
Soundtrack
Extra

Image Gallery

Characters (2016)

Mei Parris

Mei Parris has spent her life pulled between two extremes due to her physical appearance: the near-crushing protective attention lavished on her by her parents, and the unjustified fear of the local townsfolk.

Lauren Corey

Lauren Corey is a calm and slightly grouchy introvert with a bookworm streak. She loves to bake, and is beloved in the local community for her winning entries into cooking contests.

Deirdre Shannon

Teegan Parris

Teegan Parris is easy to like: outgoing, cheerful, extremely fashionable and professional. But when Teegan’s stressed out, she has an incredibly short fuse before her temper ignites.

Jenna Ravencraft

Constantly commanding the spotlight, Jenna Ravencraft runs a local paranormal tour company. It’s well-known locally that her tours are faked (or are they?) — full of rigged special effects designed to showcase spells and ghosts.

Characters (2019)

Frank and Joe Hardy

Returning to help Nancy on another case, the Hardy Boys hone in on unexplained occurrences and aid in the hunt for the arsonist of the Hathorne House. With Frank’s practical sensibilities and Joe’s unbridled enthusiasm, they make an excellent team in search of the truth. The Hardy Boys will provide great insights and vital information regarding the investigation. You, as Nancy Drew, can depend on Frank and Joe’s assistance to shed light on the motivations of suspects and those that might be influenced by Salem’s dark past.

Deirdre Shannon

High-maintenance Deirdre Shannon has spent her life hovering in Nancy’s shadow, and lives with the knowledge that she is the “girl who would have become Nancy Drew” had circumstances turned out better for her. Deirdre is concerned for her cousins Mei and Teegan and begins her own investigation to clear Mei’s name. When Deirdre discovers that there is more to the Hathorne Estate case than an arson, she reluctantly calls Nancy to come and help solve the mystery. Will Deirdre’s tense relationship with the famous teen sleuth hinder the case? Or is she hiding something about her cousin’s true motivations?

Mei Parry

Mei Parry has spent her young life pulled between two extremes – the near-crushing protective attention by her parents and sister Teegan, and the cruel gazes and whispers by the local townsfolk. Mei’s mysterious past haunts her when she is accused and placed under questioning by the Salem police for the recent fire at the Hathorne Estate. Few of the townspeople are surprised and offer little support. Unfortunately for Mei, multiple scars publicly mark her mistakes of the past and results in a constant reminder that she often seeks to hide. Only those closest to Mei understand that her deepest pain can also be her greatest strength. Can Nancy Drew help Mei or has she gone too far this time?

Teegan Parry

Teegan Parry is Mei’s older sister and cares for her and the house while their parents are away. A warm, hospitable person, she runs the local museum and is passionate about Salem’s history. As an advocate for past accused witches, will Teegan take drastic measures to right the wrongs of history and protect her sister?

Olivia Ravencroft

Constantly commanding the spotlight, Olivia Ravencroft runs a witch tour and novelty magic shop. It’s well-known locally that her smoke and mirrors entertainment is not always accurate, but it’s always very theatrical! Her self-guided tours depict Salem’s haunted past while ensuring to capitalize on the tourist trade. While Olivia uses her elaborate performances to ‘enhance’ the tourism experience, would she set fire to the Hathorne House to profit from the additional attention to her business?

Lauren Holt

As the last living person residing on the Hathorne property, Lauren claims to be the heir of the historic Hathorne House. Lauren owns an apothecary and tea shop in Salem and mixes natural remedies in the traditional methods. She has great respect for the town’s history, but would she use her expertise to unethically get what she wants?

Jason Danforth

Jason Danforth is the son of Judge Danforth. As a child, Jason loved to play in and around the infamous Hathorne House. Even though the people of Salem speculated the estate was haunted, Jason continued to visit until one day, when he was ten, he witnessed an unexplained sighting, one that haunts him to this day. As years passed, Jason enjoyed being the “it” guy in town and being both wealthy and handsome. Some say that Jason is his own biggest fan. For Jason, position has its privileges, but does his status mask the curse of his past?

Alicia Cole

Alicia Cole is a highly qualified attorney who left the big city to work with the soon-to-be-retired Judge Danforth. She loves the area and finds the smaller town environment more to her liking. However, in Salem, she must learn to deal with the occasional ‘she put a spell on me!’ case, especially behind the backdrop of a community that hasn’t come to terms with its dark and haunting past. Have the residents’ superstitions influenced Alicia’s judgment or do her ambitions run deeper than she lets on?

Judge Danforth

The well-established, yet somewhat scatterbrained, Judge Danforth is at the center of pressing legal battles in the town of Salem. The arson of the famed historic Hathorne Estate is under investigation and citizens want justice. But could Judge Danforth be harboring a hidden agenda to disrupt the investigation?