Nancy Drew: Secret of the Scarlet Hand

Secret of the Scarlet Hand was the sixth game in the series and was a keystone game for HeR Interactive as a company for a number of reasons. It also introduced many new elements and characters into the series.

Available on: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7/8/10
ESRB: E for Everyone
PC Release Date: September 17, 2002
Release MSRP: $24.95 USD, on sale for $19.99 USD
Current MSRP: $9.99 USD
Number of Discs: 1
Game Abbreviation: SSH
Game Color Code: 52B54D
Inspired by/Based on: Nancy Drew Mystery Stories Digest Paperback #124: The Secret of the Scarlet Hand

Game Description: Expose Buried Secrets and Catch a Thief Red-handed!
Between cases, Nancy Drew has taken an internship as Deputy Curator at the Beech Hill Museum in Washington, D.C. Nancy soon discovers she will be doing more than learning about ancient Mayan artifacts – there have been a series of thefts and the only clue left behind is a mysterious scarlet handprint! Will Nancy be able to put the pieces of this ancient puzzle together? Or will the mystery remain entombed forever in Nancy Drew: Secret of the Scarlet Hand?
PC System Requirements: 200 MHz or greater Pentium or equivalent class CPU. 16 MB of RAM. 160MB or more of hard drive space. 16-bit DirectX 7.0 compatible graphics video card. 16-bit DirectX 7.0 compatible sound card. 8x CD-ROM drive. Mouse and Speakers.

Fun Facts:

This was the first game to introduce Sonny Joon, Krolmeister, Frank and Joe Hardy, Prudence Rutherford, and the Koko Kringle bar.
This was the first game to show Nancy’s dog, Togo.
The original box art for this game was going to be in the exact same style as the first five Nancy Drew games. It featured the original game logo and different cover art: an in-game render of the monolith with the scarlet hand note in front of it. It explains why the opening image of the game featured that cover art with the old logo instead of the one designed by Mark Tolleshaug with the new logo. Another difference is that the game color on the box was supposed to be orange, but was changed it to green. However, the opening game image features the exact same shade of red as the one used for The Final Scene.
HeR Interactive stopped working with Dreamcatcher for this game and started publishing with Atari. Due to HeR not working with Dreamcatcher anymore, it meant that Dreamcatcher would no longer be writing the strategy guides for the games. This is the first game where HeR started writing and selling the strategy guides themselves.
This was the first game to feature a sneak peak/teaser trailer for the next game in the series once you have solved the mystery.
Aside from the PDA in Message in a Haunted Mansion, this is the first game to include a task list and journal for Nancy.
The mug in Joanna’s office features an image similar to that of the opening animation for Ransom of the Seven Ships. The mug was later reused in Warnings at Waverly Academy.
The retail cardboard box for Secret of the Scarlet Hand was the last in the series to be completely flat on the front of the box. Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake introduced embossing in various parts of the cover art such as the logos. Embossing gives the image a more 3D feel compared to the first 6 games which were just flat and and glossy.
When the game was available for pre-order, HeR Interactive changed the price of the game from the original $24.95 to a sale price of $19.99. This trend continued for the next three games.
On one of the older HeR Interactive websites, the game was titled The Secret of the Scarlet Hand. The shipped game was and still is called Secret of the Scarlet Hand.

Image Gallery
Characters
Walkthrough
Soundtrack
Extra

Image Gallery

Characters

Alejandro del Rio

Alejandro passionately believes that all artifacts should be returned to the country they were found, especially when it comes to his home country, Mexico. He believes that Mexico has been ‘robbed’ of one of its greatest artifacts, and given his methods, it would not be surprising if he stole the Pacal stone and returned it to its homeland.

Henrik van der Hune

An expert in glyph translations, Henrik works in the museum’s lab studying priceless artifacts. Perhaps he learned something in his translations and then stole the Pacal stone to keep others from learning it secrets?

Joanna Riggs

The curator of the museum, Joanna doesn’t have time for an amateur detective snooping around. Especially ones that snoop around and find out that she could be selling legendary artifacts on the black market.

Taylor Sinclair

Taylor sells priceless paintings to the museum the same way shady car salesmen sell used cars. He might not know much about artifacts, but he sure knows people who are willing to buy them to fix a fiasco, if the price is right.