Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Ships

Ransom of the Seven Ships is the twentieth Nancy Drew PC game developed and published by HeR Interactive.

Available on: Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10
ESRB: E for Everyone
PC Release Date: July 14, 2009
Release MSRP: $19.99 USD
Current MSRP: N/A
MSRP Before Discontinuation (HeR): $14.99 USD
MSRP Before Discontinuation (Steam): $6.99 USD
Discontinued (HeR): June 5, 2020
Discontinued (Steam): July 24, 2020
Number of Discs: 2
Game Abbreviation: RAN
Game Color Code: 16C0E8
Inspired by/Based on: Nancy Drew Mystery Stories Digest Paperback #70: The Broken Anchor

Game Description: Dive into Danger to Rescue Bess from Kidnappers!
Your friend Bess Marvin is kidnapped and the only chance you have to save her is by solving a 300-year-old Bahamian mystery! Dangerous waters keep treasure hunters from exploring the reefs around Dread Isle, but this remote island might hide the riches of El Toro’s lost fleet! Can you, as Nancy Drew, track down the treasure before time runs out?
PC System Requirements: 1 GHz or greater Pentium or equivalent class CPU. 256 MB of RAM. 1GB or more of hard drive space. 32MB DirectX 9.0 compatible graphics video card. 16-bit DirectX compatible sound card. 24x CD-ROM drive. Mouse and Speakers.

Fun Facts:

This game isn't a fan favorite. Many fans don't like the puzzles or the lack of characters.
This was the first game to introduce Bess and George as physical characters that you can interact with.
You can play as Nancy and George in this game.
This is the first and only game to feature a returning culprit.
Before this game released, HeR made a promotional website that acted as a travel guide for Dread Isle.
This game introduced a new logo style for HeR Interactive. Instead of the gold and silver flag from the past 12 games, HeR now donned a magenta-colored logo. It featured a different typeface and style.
Sonny Joon references make a return in this game. He used to work with the monkeys on the island.
Some of the prizes you can win from playing with the monkeys are items from past games.
Johnny Rolle shows Nancy an item he found along the beach with his metal detector. Nancy mentions it looks familiar. It's actually an item from The Secret of Shadow Ranch.
The rocket that was launched in The Haunting of Castle Malloy crashed on the shore of Dove Isle.
Coucou the parrot is the granddaughter of Loulou the parrot from Curse of Blackmoor Manor.
Due to the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as one of the characters in-game dressing up as a person of another race, HeR Interactive disabled the digital purchase of Ransom of the Seven Ships on their website on June 5, 2020. On July 24, 2020, HeR took the game off of Steam. In 2021, the game was removed from the Big Fish Games digital storefront. It is unknown if or when it will be available again from these vendors. The only way to get the game is on aftermarket websites such as eBay or Amazon, or on the Internet Archive.

Digital Strategy Guide Sample

On an old version of HeR Interactive's website, the company featured a sample strategy guide for Ransom of the Seven Ships to download for free so customers can have an idea of what the digital guides were like. HeR has since removed this strategy guide sample from all later website renditions.

digital_strategy_guide_sample.pdf
File Size:	5392 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Dread Isle Microsite

As a promo for the game, HeR Interactive created a minisite that acted as a Dread Isle travel guide. It featured a map of the isle, various activities you could partake in, the wildlife on and around the isle, various accommodations, digital downloads, and reviews from past guests. Most of the guests were characters from past games: Tex Britton, Gilbert Buford, Sonny Joon, Minette, Red Knott, and Guadalupe Comillo.
*Some elements no longer function as Adobe Flash has been discontinued.
Check out the site here: https://web.archive.org/web/20090805142401/http://www.ransomofthesevenships.com/

Image Gallery
Characters
Walkthrough
Soundtrack
Extra

Image Gallery

Characters

George Fayne

George is one of Nancy’s best friends and is sensible and matter-of-fact about life. She is the one who remembers the small details and is the best with technology. On Dread Isle, she feels helpless when Bess is kidnapped and is trying to fix a satellite phone.

Bess Marvin

Bess is a little boy crazy, but she’s great with people and is able to persuade them to do anything! With an awesome fashion sense and a cheery disposition, she can be coaxed into helping Nancy on a case. But when Bess is kidnapped on Dread Isle, she’ll need Nancy’s help to escape…

Johnny Rolle

Johnny is stuck on Dread Isle and can’t leave until he repairs his boat that the monkeys trashed. Since he’s been on the island longer than Nancy and George, perhaps he can help find Bess, or was he the one who kidnapped her in the first place?