Nancy Drew: The Secret of Shadow Ranch

The Secret of Shadow Ranch is the tenth mystery in the Adventure game series by HeR Interactive and is one of the most famous because it was based on one of the earliest Nancy Drew books by Carolyne Keene.

Game Description

Take a Wild Ride into Terror and Trickery to Rein in a Ghostly Secret!
Ropin’, ridin’ and revenge. A ranch vacation takes a terrifying turn when a ghostly horse appears in this mystery game. Is it driven by the vengeful commands of its long-dead master, Dirk Valentine? Or is a living villain behind the ranch’s string of bad luck? It’s up to you, as Nancy Drew, to figure out who’s wearing the black hat before your investigation is ambushed in Nancy Drew: Secret of Shadow Ranch!

Game Information

Available on: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7/8/10
ESRB: E for Everyone
PC Release Date: July 20, 2004
Release MSRP: $19.99 USD
Current MSRP: $9.99 USD
Number of Discs: 1
Game Abbreviation: SHA
Game Color Code: E26C41
Inspired by/Based on: Nancy Drew Mystery Stories Hardback #5: The Secret of Shadow Ranch

Game Specs

PC System Requirements:

400 MHz or greater Pentium II or equivalent class CPU
64 MB of RAM
300MB or more of hard drive space
16MB DirectX compatible graphics video card
16-bit DirectX compatible sound card
12x CD-ROM drive
Mouse and Speakers

Fun Facts:

This was the first game since 1998 to get a brand new user interface (UI). The game now had a bigger game window and a new interface layout.
This game was labelled as a "Classic Mystery Edition" game as it is based on the best-selling Nancy Drew book of all time, The Secret of Shadow Ranch.
Starting with this game, the base price of this and all future games leading up to Midnight in Salem were initially priced at $19.99 instead of the previous $24.95 with a sale price of $19.99.
This is the second game featured in the Nancy Drew Fan Favorites Collector's Tin.
This game released in the big box format with nearly the same dimensions as the big boxes that Dreamcatcher released the first five Nancy Drew games in. The reason why they made this game in the regular and big box format is still unknown. There's a possibility that it was because this was the tenth game in the series and they decided to do a bit of a throwback to the days when the games came in such big boxes. However, Curse of Blackmoor Manor also released in the big box format. Due to that fact, there could have been a deal HeR Interactive set with Atari that the games they released in 2004 would also release in a limited big box release.
As the big box release had substantially more space on all sides of the box, there were many differences between the regular and big box size. The front cover had no opening flap on the big box like it did on the regular sized box. It did, however, have more room to to display the artwork used for the front cover. The logo was no longer cut off at the 'Y' in 'Nancy' and the full silhouette could be seen on the big box. The word 'Mystery' that covered the game number on the regular size box was now above the game number in the magnifying glass on the big box. The game number was put on the top of the box and the logo was placed on the bottom of the box. They moved the system requirements from the bottom of the box to the back side and added various assets from the DVD case version to the back side of the big box. Finally, the regular sized box had the tagline "Wrangle Up Clues in a Tangled Tale of Romance, Treasure, and Revenge!" on the top of the back side of the box with a little section of the cover art in the top-right corner of the back side. This was replaced with "Classic Mystery Edition based on the best-selling Nancy Drew book of all time, The Secret of Shadow Ranch" alongside a picture of the book's cover art with the book spines used on the front cover of the box.
This game introduced Charleena Purcell, a romance novelist who returns to the series three games later.
The system requirements for this game nearly doubled and sometimes quadrupled in various areas making this the biggest game in the series and requiring a slightly more powerful system to run the game smoothly.
This was the first game to have a mobile version of the game created for tablets and mobile phones. The mobile version of the game wasn't a port of the game as it was more in the style of an interactive novel with a mixture of both the original book and the game combined together with added story aspects and side mysteries.
There is an end game award that can't be achieved for this game, but it still remains in the game files.
Some versions of this game shipped with the incorrect game credits. A fan pointed out that her copy contained the credits for The Final Scene.
Bet Rawley hints at flash floods from intense storms that can hit almost instantly. Despite being a reference to the original book, no flash floods actually occur.

Image Gallery
Characters
Walkthrough
Soundtrack
Extra

Image Gallery

Characters

Dave Gregory

Dave is the ranch foreman. Always polite, somewhat shy, Dave is a man of business and frustratingly few words. He is truly a “modern” cowboy, into sports, music, and the outdoors. He is not above trying to use his looks to charm his way out of awkward situations.

Tex Britton

Tex is an old-fashioned cowpoke. His cynical attitude reflects the fact that he feels much more at home with horses and cattle than with humans. He’s a terrible conversationalist (his favorite word is “nope”), and he not-so-secretly enjoys putting Nancy in situations that he thinks she can’t handle.

Shorty Thurmond

The ranch cook, Shorty, is more talkative than the other two ranch hands combined. He also loves to cook, and takes great pride in the food he serves. So criticizing his meals is a recipe for disaster.

Mary Yazzi

This single woman is part Native American and runs a store on land that is adjacent to Shadow Ranch. Mary knows all about the history of the area and she is interested in purchasing the Ranch for herself. Is she trying to scare away the ranch owners so they’ll agree to sell it to her?

Walkthrough

You can watch the full video walkthrough for Nancy Drew: The Secret of Shadow Ranch on YouTube!

Episode 1 - Cortana has Gone Rampant

Episode 2 - Nancy Talks-a-lot

Episode 3 - Chores

Episode 4 - Secret Messages, Horse Quiz, and Run for Cover

Episode 5 - Mary Yazzi, Trail Stop, Cougar Bend

Episode 6 - Petroglyphs and the Ghost Horse

Episode 7 - Cakes and Passages

Episode 8 - The Cellar and the Horse Feed

Episode 9 - The Lariat and the Letter

Episode 10 - Dry Creek

Episode 11 - Tex is in Love!

Episode 12 - Dirk's Games, Second Haunting, Chores

Episode 13 - Chores, the Bridle, Jail Cell

Episode 14 - Almost Done Dirk's Puzzle!

Episode 15 - Valentine's Rock and the Maze

Episode 16 - The End

Beta Playthrough

You can watch the full video playthrough for Nancy Drew: The Secret of Shadow Ranch Beta on YouTube! The beta version of The Secret of Shadow Ranch contains various unfinished aspects of the game. There are missing sounds, slightly altered puzzles, bugs, and more!

Beta Playthrough - Episode 1

Beta Playthrough - Episode 2

Beta Playthrough - Episode 3

Beta Playthrough - Episode 4

Beta Playthrough - Episode 5

Beta Playthrough - Episode 6

Beta Playthrough - Episode 7

Beta Playthrough - Episode 8

Beta Playthrough - Episode 9

Beta Playthrough - Episode 10

Soundtrack

Awards

Museum of Science, Boston, 2004 Top Choice Software Award
Parent’s Choice 2004 Silver Award, Best Software, ages 10-18
iParenting Media, 2004 Great Holiday Award
Children’s Software Revue, 2004 All Star Award