ND34 News Timeline - Page 1

Pre-Release News Timeline - Page 1

NOTE: This page is no longer being updated as of June 7th, 2023.
For the most recent updates starting on June 7th, 2023, please refer to page 2.

Page last updated: June 7, 2023

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December 3, 2019 // Nancy Drew: Midnight in Salem Launches

After a long-awaited and delayed release, Nancy Drew: Midnight in Salem launched on December 3rd, 2019 to much criticism from fans. One of the more notable concerns was that there was no official teaser trailer for the next game in the series following the completion of this mystery. HeR Interactive continued to say that they were planning on a 34th Nancy Drew game.

October 12, 2021 // "Mystery of the Seven Keys" Trademark Application Filing

At the time, HeR Interactive had never been known to trademark the title of any of their previous mystery games. As seen in the image below, this trademark was classed under the Goods and Services section as "Downloadable video and computer game programs; recorded video and computer game programs." HeR Interactive didn't acknowledge this trademark publicly until March 28th, 2023.

November 25, 2021 // New Nancy Drew Stationary Introduced

For the first time since Nancy Drew: The Deadly Device, HeR Interactive introduced a new stationary style for Nancy Drew. This version features an updated look to the original stationary seen in the first 26 Nancy Drew games. The typeface for "Nancy Drew" is different from the original and the design on the left side of the page has been modified for a higher resolution. The typeface for Nancy's writing was temporarily used before being changed in the first quarter of 2022.

February 15, 2022 // New Nancy Drew Handwriting Typeface Introduced

After changing Nancy's stationary, the next thing to change was Nancy's handwriting. HeR Interactive released new merchandise for Valentine's Day featuring a new typeface for Nancy's handwriting called "Drew Handwriting". This appropriately named typeface became the new standard for letters and messages coming from Nancy.

July 15, 2022 // "Mystery of the Seven Keys" Trademark Examiner Assigned

A trademark examiner was assigned to review the trademark submitted by HeR Interactive in order to determine whether or not HeR Interactive could be the exclusive use owner of the character mark "Mystery of the Seven Keys" for a videogame title. Upon confirmation of use by the examiner, the trademark would be published for opposition for 30 days. Should no other third party wish to oppose, the trademark would become registered and HeR Interactive would have 6 months to publish a game sharing the title of the trademark or they will forfeit the trademark. If they found that they would not be able to launch a game within the initial 6-month period, they would be able to file for up to 5 extra 6-month extensions until they launch.

September 22, 2022 // Road Tile Screenshot Teaser

The first real in-game screenshot released by HeR Interactive was of a section of road which heavily matched that of a road outside of a café in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. At the time, it was unknown what this was intended to be.

Source: https://lifetoreset.wordpress.com/2015/06/17/clock-tower/

October 25, 2022 // Café Ceiling Teaser

The next location to be sneakily teased by HeR Interactive was the café. They teased a small section of the ceiling, crown molding, and base of the chandelier. It was heavily disguised with an emoji ranking activity which drew attention away from the background image.

October 28, 2022 // Stained Glass Circles Teaser

HeR Interactive released another teaser in the form of an fan art shoutout. The background of this image features yellow stained glass circles inside a metal frame. At the time, it was unknown whether this was a window, fence, or a gate.

November 11, 2022 // First Newsletter Teaser

HeR Interactive sent out a newsletter on November 11th featuring a wall texture from inside of Prague Castle. The Veterans Day Weekend graphic contained one of the first teasers for ND34 and the first teaser for the interior of St. Vitus Cathedral.

November 16, 2022 // Espresso Machine Teaser

As part of a fall activity, HeR Interactive released a render of the espresso machine used in ND34 as the background image of the graphic. It was cleverly used because it could easily go unnoticed with the theme of the graphic.

November 22, 2022 // Thanksgiving ND34 Teaser

HeR started to emphasize on teasing ND34 with their Thanksgiving post for 2022. The graphic featured a key, coffee, and the new stationary introduced on November 25, 2021. Nancy's new handwriting typeface was also put to use. On the stationary is a list of seven things Nancy is thankful for. The magnifying glass features a composited "ND" in the Dunelm typeface. All these clues allude towards the title "Mystery of the Seven Keys".

November 24, 2022 // Seven Keys Teaser

HeR Interactive continued to sneakily tease "Mystery of the Seven Keys" with this graphic. The background features old calligraphic writings, a pair of spectacles, a stopwatch with a magnifying glass charm, a fountain pen, and seven keys.

November 25, 2022 // "2022 Holiday Gift Guide" ASB Post

On the morning of November 25th, 2023, HeR Interactive sent out their second newsletter for the month. This newsletter contained the first instance of the floor texture which would later appear in the April 1st newsletter in 2023.

HeR Interactive also published a new Amateur Sleuth Blog post containing their guide to their latest and greatest merchandise items. Hidden in this post are various clues to ND34. The post contains the following 6 images in this order:

ASB-11-26-22-C.png

This graphic contains multiple hidden clues. The most obvious one is the background image. At this time, it's currently unknown what this is an image of, but it is from ND34. The puzzle pieces contain text in a very low opacity that reads WE ARE SENDING YOU MESSAGES. This was HeR telling fans to look closer at some of their past marketing posts to try and make sense of some of the clues they hid. There are 4 Teespring products shown in this graphic.

ASB-11-26-22-B.png

This image doesn't contain much. The background is gold which is the game's color (see April 1, 2023 and April 11, 2023). There are 4 Teespring products shown in this graphic.

ASB-11-26-22-A.png

This image has a few Easter eggs hidden. There is a cup of coffee, seven keys, and multiple teases to future reveals. There are multiple stickers, a laptop, and a clue to a password for a future password protected page. There are 13 Teespring products shown in this graphic.

ASB-11-26-22-F.png

There are a few instances of the number 7 in this graphic. First off, there are 7 Teespring products shown. Each light ray in the top and bottom center of the image contains 7 light rays. These all allude to "Mystery of the Seven Keys".

ASB-11-26-22-E.png

This image contains one small hint. There are 3 books stacked on the table to the left. The titles and author names read Please Read Between the Lines by K. Drew. There are 9 Teespring products shown in this graphic.

ASB-11-26-22-D.png

This final image contains the biggest clues. There are 16 Teespring products shown in this graphic, but the biggest secret is the background image. Blurred for secrecy is a map of the Czech Republic. The blue water lines and the red border lines on the map line up with their actual placement in real life. The names Prague and Czech are blurred in the bottom left of the page. These are allusions to where the game will be taking place.

March 28, 2023 // "Subscribe to the HeR Interactive Newsletter!" Social Post Launched

Falling in line with the rest of their social media posts, HeR Interactive launched a seemingly normal post reminding fans to subscribe to their monthly newsletter. However, this graphic contained some hidden clues hinting towards Nancy Drew game #34 in the fine print. In the top right of the image are some slightly blurred out numbers: #97071234. That is the same sequence of numbers used for the "Mystery of the Seven Keys" trademark serial number. This meant that HeR Interactive officially publicly acknowledged the trademark filed on October 12th, 2021. The top left of the graphic reads "34 CENTS | 41 PAGES". This was meant as a teaser for Nancy Drew #34 being revealed on April 1st, 2023. This newspaper was originally featured in Nancy Drew: The Creature of Kapu Cave and was cropped so we couldn't actually read this information which allowed HeR Interactive to easily insert it themselves. Another change that was made was under the weather column on the left. Originally, Continued, Page 7 read Continued, Page 8 and below that, the time of day was altered from 4:09 to 12:01. Page 7 refers to Mystery of the Seven Keys and 12:01 refers to the time of day the newsletter was going to be sent out on April 1st.

April 1, 2023 // April Newsletter Launched, Instagram Archived, First Video Uploaded

At 12:05 AM in the Pacific Timezone, the April newsletter started arriving in subscribers' inboxes. This wasn't the standard newsletter from HeR Interactive highlighting the latest sale and contest. Instead, there were clues riddled throughout leading to Nancy Drew #34. You can view the full newsletter here: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/---A-birthday-gift-from-Nancy.html?soid=1101714321700&aid=iqQNkqVVAvg

HeR Interactive made a few changes to the newsletter header. Normally, the header sports a white and magenta color scheme with a gold accent. In this case, the main colors are black, white, and yellow.

The first graphic below the header features the text "April is Fan Month! Nancy Drew Turns 93". The text and banner all feature black, white, and yellow coloring. The background image features a marble tiled floor with green and white tiles in a checkerboard layout. This is most likely an in-game environment that wasn't immediately revealed.

This section is made up of a black background, an image and text. The title text Happy Birthday, Nancy! and the body text 93 and April 28, are all highlighted in the same gold color used above.

The second graphic advertises the HeR Interactive merchandise store on Teespring. The products in the center (three jackets) are brand new products with re-used artwork. There are two products that have gold stars beside them which feature brand-new merchandise artwork. The background of the image appears to be a cinder block wall.

When fans went to the product pages for the two products with golden stars beside them, they were greeted with a few clues in the descriptions of the products. The product titled "Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse – DVD Wrap" features the following text in its description: Inspired by the resident castle trickster who loves April fools day as much as us! The product titled "MOOOOO" features the following text in its description: Nancy: Where did YOU come from? Lukas: I was hiding behind the drapes. Nancy: What is this? Hamlet! It was assumed on the day that HeR Interactive was referencing Shakespeare with this quote, especially with the Shakespeare festival shown in the March 28th social post.

The next three graphics all feature some Nancy Drew trivia which isn't uncommon for a newsletter. However, this particular trivia holds some clues and secrets. Each trivia question is multiple choice and features 4 possible answers. Each trivia question and answer features at least 1 highlighted character.

There are 2 trivia questions on this graphic. The first one features the highlighted letters T and H. It references Nancy Drew: Danger by Design. The second one features the highlighted letter I. It makes a reference to Nancy Drew: Midnight in Salem. This graphic also features a tiled floor as the background, another image which is most likely from an in-game environment which wasn't immediately revealed. The floor pattern features 9 large tiles in a 3x3 grid format surrounded by 28 smaller tiles.

There is a graphic of a lightbulb in the top right corner featuring 5 light rays being emitted. It is also curiously placed over the brightest spot reflecting off of the floor.

The second trivia graphic features the current Nancy Drew silhouette with a large light emission coming from her flashlight. There are 2 trivia questions on this graphic. The background features what seems to be the sky with a small section of the St. Vitus Cathedral in the bottom right. It was unknown at the time what building this was meant to be and where it was meant to be located geographically.

There are 2 trivia questions on this graphic. The first one features the highlighted letters R and T. It makes a reference to Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor. The second one features the highlighted letters Y and F. It makes a reference to Nancy Drew: Danger on Deception Island.

The third and final trivia graphic features 3 trivia questions. The background consists of a section of wall, most likely from another in-game environment that wasn't revealed at the time.

There are 3 trivia questions on this graphic. When added together, there are 7 trivia questions throughout the 3 graphics. The first question features the highlighted letter O. It makes a reference to Nancy Drew: Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon. The second one features the highlighted letter U. It makes a reference to Nancy Drew: The Silent Spy. The final question features the highlighted letter R. It references Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock.

All the highlighted letters throughout the slides put together spell out THIRTYFOUR, or Thirty Four, which alludes to Nancy Drew #34.

This graphic contained a few clues not only towards the game, but towards the next update that HeR was going to release. The background of the graphic features the sky during sunset or sunrise with a few blurred objects along the bottom of the image. The time of day in the image most likely relates to the content on the note. It reads IT'S YOUR day on the left with a coffee cup with three steam lines coming from the top of the cup. YOUR is underlined twice. On the right side of the page are 9 sun rays with the words Saturday April 1st Morning below it. There is also a video camera/projector icon. In total, there are 7 words, 3 on the left side and 4 on the right. The color of the text and graphics matches that of the text from the above images.

The final image in the newsletter tells the fans that a brand-new mystery is coming soon, but doesn't say when or give an estimated time. The message is written on the slightly altered version of Nancy's stationary as used in the November 25, 2021 social post. The typeface of the handwriting (Drew Handwriting) was first used for social media on February 15, 2022. The background image was originally used in Nancy Drew: The Silent Spy and is available for download as a wallpaper on the game page for Nancy Drew: Alibi in Ashes on HeR Interactive's website.

Hidden in the text of the message are dark red letters that, when put together, read youvebeenhacked! or You've Been Hacked! This is a suggestion that hacking may be a theme for the next game.

The bottom of the newsletter starts with HeR Interactive telling fans to follow them on all their social media channels to ensure they never miss another post. There are 3 images on the bottom which link to their merchandise store, digital game store, and the Amateur Sleuth Blog. Below that is the company name, hidden text, website URL, and the newsletter URL. The hidden text reads Hidden Clues Are The Key. The trivia answer at the bottom is the detective emoji. This was telling fans to look closer at the trivia questions in case they missed something.

At the same time that this newsletter was sent out, HeR Interactive archived every post on their Instagram page. This was done as a way for the company to restart their Instagram page and only focus on new content to promote the next game. It's a common tactic that has been used by bands and music artists when they're getting ready to launch a new album and to start promoting it.

At 10:34 AM Pacific Time, HeR Interactive uploaded a video to their social media pages which can be viewed below. This video featured the same handwritten note as in the newsletter, but didn't have the highlighted letters spelling out youvebeenhacked! Instead, this video contained a music track that was unfamiliar at the time and was suggested by fans to be featured in the next Nancy Drew game. It shares similar qualities to the music of Nancy Drew: Midnight in Salem composed by Ryan Ricks. This video was uploaded to HeR Interactive's Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter pages. The video itself is 34 seconds long.

April 4, 2023 // HeR Interactive's Response Video

At 2:34 AM Pacific Time, HeR Interactive uploaded their video response to all the fans who were worried about the newsletter being an April Fool's Day joke. The video starts off highlighting several questions from fans then shows a HeR Interactive employee starting to type the common response: Sorry, we aren't able to share any info at this time. StAy sLeUThy! :D. There are capitalized letters that spell out SALUT which is commonly French for "Hi" but is also used as a greeting in multiple other languages. The person then deletes the message and types: We are excited to announce . . . we're officially working on a new game! After that, they post the response and the video glitches a few times before fading out with a few different colors shown on the screen. On their social media posts, they used the clock emoji with the hands pointing at 7:30 which was meant to signify the next time of day that they were going to make a post.

This video consists of stock music and stock footage that was altered by HeR Interactive.

April 6, 2023 // Drop Quote Puzzle

At 7:34 AM Pacific Time, HeR Interactive posted a brand-new puzzle for fans to solve. It was in the style of a drop quote puzzle which can be seen in both Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse and Nancy Drew: Alibi in Ashes. When solved, the puzzle read THANKS FOR SLEUTHING ALONG, BUT SOME OF YOUR THEORIES ARE WRONG. THERE IS MORE TO THE TRIVIA SO SHOULD YOU PONDER ALL NIGHT, DO STAY AWAKE, OR YOU MIGHT ENCOUNTER A FRIGHT. TAKE A PAGE FROM CHORES PAST AND MIX UP MORE CLUES, WE HAVE A NEW CASE AND NO TIME TO LOSE! The image also features various classic Nancy Drew books from various eras. A magnifying glass highlights the words THE BLACK KEYS from the title of Nancy Drew book #28 The Clue of the Black Keys. A bobby pin can be seen on Nancy Drew book #8 Nancy's Mysterious Letter. In the notebook itself is a penciled circle around the sun icon.

The post's description on social media reads e a s t t e g n e l c h b i e which is an anagram for let the case begin.

As of April 18, 2023, there is still no confirmation on whether or not fans have solved the trivia that HeR is hinting at with this clue.

April 8, 2023 // Amateur Sleuth Blog Post "Easter Weekend Memories"

On April 8th, 2023, HeR Interactive employee codenamed Indy uploaded an Amateur Sleuth Blog post highlighting various Easter egg memories from the past. She uploaded 3 images to the post which were labelled Tu.jpg, Esd.jpg, Ay.jpg. If you take the image title names and put them together, they spell TuEsdAy, or Tuesday. The capital letters each spell out TEA. This was implying that HeR was going to release their next update on Tuesday, most likely April 11th, 2023.

April 11, 2023 // Secret Landing Page Discovery

On the morning of April 11th, 2023, a secret landing page on the HeR Interactive website was discovered before any official announcements had been made. The original URL was https://www.herinteractive.com/not-landing-page before being updated to https://www.herinteractive.com/new-nancydrew-mystery/. Shortly after being discovered, it was made to be password protected. Very quickly, the password was guessed simply by testing out computer passwords from within the Nancy Drew computer games. In this case, the password was purgamentum from Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor. After logging in with the password, a brand-new homepage for ND34 was revealed. It featured a screenshot of an, at the time, unknown environment. The screenshot held many things to look at including screenshot references to past Nancy Drew games. There was also a small grey magnifying glass and coffee cup as well as a brand new social profile picture for HeR Interactive. An altered version of the Nancy Drew logo signified the subject matter of the page. Below are the YouTube videos and Instagram feed for HeR Interactive relating to the new game.

HeR Interactive has been known to change the color of their profile picture to align with the game colors of an upcoming release. The new yellow/gold colors felt like a hint to the next game and lined up with the colors used in the April 1st newsletter. Curiously, only the email icon on the bottom of the page would load. The other buttons still existed and worked, but only the email icon showed.

The following images contained titles that contained clues about the next game. The capital letters in 34-nEwGamehappeninGS spell out EGGS. IsThisARenderFromGame34Maybe alludes to the fact that this is a brand-new screenshot from an environment in the next game. The first newsletter button titled HintsrEveAleDinoUrNewsletTer spells HEADUNT which can be rearranged to spell HAUNTED. Finally, IMPortanTwrOnganSwERs_ spells IMPTOSER which is an anagram for IMPOSTER.

IMPortanTwrOnganSwERs_- also contains a hidden number 7 in the upper magnifying glass which alludes to Mystery of the Seven Keys.

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IsThisARenderFromGame34Maybe.png

HintsrEveAleDinoUrNewsletTer.png

IMPortantTwrOnganSwERs_.png

This was originally going to be the new profile picture for all of HeR Interactive's social media pages. Their Instagram profile picture was updated to this at 10:34 AM Pacific Time on the same day that the secret landing page and password were discovered.

By using the Inspect tool in Google Chrome, some hidden text was able to be seen that was left there by HeR Interactive. It read so you're snooping the code, sleuth! congrats for finding this, you're quite the snooper! we'd love to tell you more, but it's against NDA so... you'll have to wait for our planned releases! trust us, we'd love to chat and share, but this mystery must stay just that until all is revealed!

On the same day, the final discovery was of a second screenshot of the same environment but from a different angle. This screenshot was originally named IsThisARenderFromNewGameMaybe.png and was very quickly removed from HeR Interactive's media library on their website. It wasn't intended to be found by fans.

April 12, 2023 // "Mystery of the Seven Keys" Trademark Extension, Scavenger Hunt Puzzle

On April 12th, 2023, HeR Interactive filed for the first of their 5 6-month use extensions for "Mystery of the Seven Keys". This means that they realized they weren't able to publish a game titled Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Seven Keys within the first allotted amount of time so they requested an extension to give them more time to use it.

HeR Interactive also posted a brand-new puzzle for fans to solve at 10:34 AM Pacific Time. This puzzle was in the form of a scavenger hunt sending players through the past Nancy Drew games to find the answers to the questions provided. The final solution read Enter New Password at Midnight Apr 13. This was a message telling fans to enter a new password on the secret landing page at midnight in April 13th. However, it wasn't made incredibly clear as to whether that meant 12 AM Pacific Time on April 13th or 11:59 PM Pacific Time on April 13th. HeR Interactive revealed that it was intended to mean the latter.

April 13, 2023 // Enter New Password at Midnight Apr 13

A few hours before midnight, HeR Interactive asked fans via social media if they would like a hint for the password. They provided a clue relating to Marie Antoinette from Nancy Drew: Treasure in the Royal Tower. This clue featured the French flag in the background with Marie Antoinette's journal on top of the final slider puzzle in the shape of a diamond. The words "Hope to Those Who Search" are written on the journal. On the bottom of the clue is the word Misery. Within 30 minutes after the new password went live, the password was discovered to be lediamantdemamisere. In English, it translates to the diamond of misery. The music in this video is from Nancy Drew: Treasure in the Royal Tower.

After the updated page was unlocked, fans were greeted with a brand-new video which highlighted the environment shown in the header of the webpage. It featured a greybox layout of the environment, a slightly altered music track from the first video HeR released on April 1st, and several screenshots of the environment during development. Those screenshots highlighted various areas of the environment and displayed the continued use of NPCs (non-playable characters) interacting within the world.

There were a couple changes made on the landing page as well. The small magnifying glass and coffee cup icons changed color from a dark grey to the same magenta color that HeR uses on their website. The magnifying glass also shifted its angle from -45 degrees to -90 degrees.

April 14, 2023 // "Mystery of the Seven Keys" Trademark Extension Confirmed, Social Pages Updated

The first 6-month extension of use for "Mystery of the Seven Keys" was approved and HeR Interactive was notified via email. Technically, according to the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office), the extension was granted on April 12th, 2023 but HeR Interactive was notified on April 14th, 2023.

At 1:34 PM Pacific Time, HeR Interactive updated their profile picture again to a slightly darker shade of gold. This profile picture was updated across all their social media pages as well as the new game's landing page. Another change that was made was the social media banner image got updated. For social media platforms that offer a custom banner (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube), HeR updated theirs to feature the cover art of all the Nancy Drew adventure games that they currently sell. It also featured the updated Nancy Drew logo seen on the new game's landing page. The typeface used for the text A NEW ADVENTURE IS COMING is called Flange BQ and was originally used for the first 32 game titles.

April 18, 2023 // Barista Teaser Video

At 3:34 PM Pacific Time on April 18th, 2023, HeR Interactive uploaded a video teasing what type of food puzzle will be in Nancy Drew 34. The video clip contained a montage of past food puzzles and food moments from the series with voiceovers from several past Nancy Drew characters. It also featured Brittany Cox as Nancy Drew instead of Lani Minella. The end of the video clip shows a coffee cup with ND 34 on it and a magnifying glass turned upside down in the 1 o'clock position. The music in this video originally came from Nancy Drew: The Final Scene.

At the same time, HeR updated the landing page for the game. This teaser video replaced the environment teaser with a new thumbnail. The little coffee cup that was magenta is now golden to match the previously used gold color. The magnifying glass has not moved since the last update.

April 21, 2023 // Coffee Puzzle Reveal Video

To further compliment the previous update video, HeR Interactive released a brand-new reveal for the coffee puzzle in ND34. HeR included various in-development screenshots with unfinished artwork to present the progress from greybox to the near-completed puzzle. There are also new angles from the coffee shop environment that hadn't been seen before. They showed images and renders of various elements such as the espresso machine, the coffee bar, and the entire room in an unfinished state. There is also a small glimpse into the new UI art surrounding the dialogue which appears to be a massive improvement over the UI used in Nancy Drew: Midnight in Salem. At the end of the video, the first character animation was teased with the text "You never know who Nancy will meet next..." which implied that the next teaser HeR will release will focus on one or more characters for the next game. The music in this video originally came from Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice. Also featured in the video are new voice lines from Nancy Drew:

"I see I'm not getting out of this."
"What do I need to do?"
"Time to get creative!"
"This café is amazing. It's been here a long time!"

The espresso machine shown in the video was closely inspired by a 1930s Gaggia Orione espresso machine with a few changes to make it appear more modern. The chandeliers in the environment were purchased by HeR Interactive from the Unity Asset Store.

April 25, 2023 // Spiral Cipher Puzzle

At 2:34 PM Pacific Time, HeR Interactive released a brand-new cryptic puzzle. This puzzle needed to be solved starting at the letter F above the cake icon in the center then rotating around clockwise and collecting the 3rd letter then the 4th letter, then the 3rd, and so on. The candles that are seen in the image signify needing to look at the 3rd and 4th letters. After rotating all the way around, the letters spell out WHO DO YOU CALL TO FIND A CLUE BUT YOUR FRIENDS OLD AND NEW YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO WARM UP YOUR VOICE TIME TO SING FOR NANCY IS NINETY THREE THEN ON TO OUR NEXT MYSTERY. The description of the post reads nanCy’s bIrthday wEek and sOme festiVe birthday fun! The capitalized letters are CIEOV which can be rearranged to spell out VOICE.

April 26, 2023 // Brittany Cox Teaser Video

At 4:34 PM Pacific Time, HeR Interactive uploaded a brand-new teaser video for Nancy Drew #34. It featured Brittany Cox in the recording studio talking about the project. She mentions that the mystery will be "filled with friends old and new" implying the return of past characters and introduction of new ones. Cox also explains that the project is top secret but that fans should stay tuned for more updates and a special Nancy Drew birthday greeting. The closing text teases fans that Friday April 28th, 2023 will contain a reveal for "some old friends and [to] meet a new one too!" The music in this video was originally from Nancy Drew: Alibi in Ashes.

At the same time that HeR posted the above video, they made a slight but significant change to their website. As with the recent updates, they switched out the barista puzzle video with the video of Brittany Cox announcing her return as Nancy. However, the really interesting thing that they did was change the little coffee mug icon to a microphone icon. This is implying that HeR Interactive has shown us all they're going to show from the café environment and are moving on to the next phase of marketing. The microphone has been used in the descriptions of their Instagram posts for a few days up until this point and it's implied that HeR will be revealing the characters for the game next.

April 28, 2023 // Nancy Drew Birthday Character Reveals

At 12:45 PM Pacific Time, HeR Interactive released a brand-new video highlighting some returning characters and a new character for Mystery 34. Included in the list are the following:

Ned Nickerson voiced by Scott Carty (returning)
- "Alright, Nancy Drew."
Joe Hardy voiced by Rob Jones (returning)
- "Nancy!"
Frank Hardy voiced by Jonah von Spreecken (returning)
- "What can we do for you?"
Carson Drew voiced by Ken Boynton (returning)
- "Hi Nance!"
Radek voiced by Kieran Regan (new voice)
- "Oh, uh, are you a tourist? I'm sorry, I should introduce myself."

Regan hints at playing multiple characters at the end of the video when he says, "I'm so ready for all of the voices that you guys are gonna have me do." The music in this video was originally from Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock.

At the same time on the same day, HeR Interactive updated the microphone icon on the game's landing page from magenta to gold.

May 1, 2023 // Nancy Drew Birthday Blog Post

To help celebrate Nancy's 93rd birthday, HeR Interactive employee Indy published a new blog post at 5:34 PM Pacific Time. The post is titled Celebrating Nancy's 93rd Birthday. She points out some of the highlights from the weekend including the reveal of Radek, some fan cosplays, and the birthday cake she made for Nancy's birthday. The post contains a link to a post on Instagram by The Nancy Drew Times cosplaying as Radek, and an image from @southernsleuth on Instagram of her dog also cosplaying as Radek. The other images and video all contain clues towards the next reveal.

asb-may1-VIdeo.mp4

asb-may1-RadekmeMe.jpg

asb-may1-stRawbErries.jpg

asb-may1-UncutcAkE.jpg

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Each of these file names contain various capitalized letters in them. In order, they spell VIRMREUAESLC which, when rearranged, spells out MUSIC REVEAL with an extra R. Most likely, this was unintended and a small mistake on the marketing team's part. Regardless, this meant that the next reveal was going to be regarding the music.

May 2, 2023 // Landing Page Microphone Color Change

HeR made a very minor change to the landing page for ND34. The little microphone icon that once was magenta then changed to gold was changed back to magenta. The purpose of this change is currently unknown.

May 3, 2023 // Number, Binary and Music Puzzles

At 3:34 PM Pacific Time, HeR uploaded a new multi-layered puzzle for fans to solve. All the number 34's in the first slide mark spaces between words. To identify which letters make up those words, each number (or set of numbers) needed to be applied to a letter of the alphabet. A = 1, B = 2, etc. Once decoded, the final message read FROM CLUES TO RIDDLES, CIPHERS AND MORE, THIS STEP HERE IS ONE OF FOUR. ONCE YOU HAVE SOLVED THIS CODE BELOW, LOOK UP MYSTERIES FROM LONG AGO THEN HOLD UP THE NEXT PAGE TO CHAPTER SIX ON THE CLUE THAT REVEALS THE SECRET OF THE BRICKS. IF YOU THINK YOU ARE DONE, IT IS NOT TIME TO REST, THERE IS STILL ONE FINAL TEST. THE SECRETS YOU FIND HAS A NEW LANDING SPACE. BE SURE TO TAKE NOTE FROM SOMEONE IN A PAST CASE FOR SHE EXPRESSES HERSELF IN TEMPO AND SONG AND DON’T FORGET HER TEACHER WAS WRONG.

In order to solve this puzzle, the paper overlay on the second slide needs to be placed on top of chapter 6 of The Story of Four by Madeline Moore from Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy. In doing so, the following letters would appear: PENTOPAPERSENEMYCRITIC which also reads pen to paper's enemy critic. Edgar Allan Poe's biggest critic was Rufus Wilmot Griswold.

Shortly after fans solved the first part of the puzzle, HeR Interactive updated the ND34 landing page and replaced the microphone icon with a music note icon. This icon could be clicked which lead to a brand-new password protected webpage. The URL for that page was herinteractive.com/nothingtoseehere/ and the password for the page was the solution to the paper overlay puzzle: rufuswilmotgriswol

After the correct password had been entered, the following page was revealed:

01000011 00100000 01000001 00100000 01000011 00100000 01000001 00100000 01000011 00100000 01000001 00100000 01000011 00100000
01000001 00001010 01000011 00100000 01000001 00100000 01000011 00100000 01000001 00100000 01000011 00100000 01000001 00100000
01000010 11100010 10011001 10101101 00100000 01000111 00001010 01000011 00100000 01000111 11100010 10011001 10101111 00100000
01000011 00100000 01000111 11100010 10011001 10101111 00100000 01000011 00100000 01000111 11100010 10011001 10101111 00100000
01000011 00100000 01000111 11100010 10011001 10101111 00001010 01000011 00100000 01000111 11100010 10011001 10101111 00100000
01000011 00100000 01000111 11100010 10011001 10101111 00100000 01000010 11100010 10011001 10101101 00100000 01000111 00100000
01000010 11100010 10011001 10101101 00100000 01000111

This binary code can be translated to read as various music notes. In order, they are the following notes:
C A C A C A C A C A C A C A B♭ G C G♯ C G♯ C G♯ C G♯ C G♯ C G♯ B♭ G B♭ G

The final act from HeR Interactive for the day was to implement a placeholder for the ND34 game page under the All Games category on their website. Both instances of the word Protected were hotlinks that lead to the password protected page with binary code.

May 5, 2023 // New Location and Music Reveal

With another surprise reveal, HeR Interactive announced the next environment in ND34 at 1:34 PM Pacific Time. This time, they showed off the tech store. The music featured in the background matched that of the previous reveal with the music notes they shared in binary code. The video starts off with some very early concepts and screenshots of the environments development. There are various objects highlighted in yellow, red, and green. These most likely indicate which objects need to be designed/purchased, which objects may have multiple states, and which objects will be interactable. They continue on to show various angles from the room. A character is shown in the room most likely for scale or as an NPC that is shopping. At the end of the video, a screenshot is shown of a laptop bearing the brand name KROLMEISTER and has 6 stickers placed on the top of it. 4 of these stickers (Whales Rule, Phoenix Emblem, Moon Chunk, and Koko Kringle Chocolate Bar) are available in the HeR Interactive Teespring store, 1 of them (Pacific Run) is an alteration of a currently available design, and the final sticker (Robot Puppy) is not available on the store at all. HeR is implying that this laptop may belong to Nancy.

HeR Interactive also made a few changes to their website on the same day. On the game's landing page, they updated the YouTube video link with the new environment announcement. They also changed the color of the music note icon from magenta to gold. They removed the link to the binary code webpage and deleted the webpage altogether. They also removed the placeholder for ND34 on the HeR Interactive game page.

May 8, 2023 // Landing Page Icon Update

At the end of the day on May 8th, 2023, HeR Interactive teased the next reveal by changing the icon on the ND34 landing page from a music note to a laptop.

May 9, 2023 // Mega Nonogram Puzzle

At 7:34 AM Pacific Time, HeR Interactive posted a massive nonogram puzzle that was originally introduced in Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water's Edge. The background of the image showed the laptop from the tech store reveal video. This image of the laptop contained another sticker that was originally blurred out in the video. This sticker featured the logo for Cathedral, the spy organization that Nancy works for in Nancy Drew: The Silent Spy. HeR's reason for blurring the sticker out in the first place was to avoid confusion and say that Cathedral had nothing to do with the game nor with any of the hacking themes they've been teasing throughout the marketing process. The description of the post reads 💻 thE nonOgram iS bAck! What mighT tHis PuzzLe shaPe up tO be? with the letters EOSAWTHPLPO capitalized. When rearranged, the letters spell WHOSE LAPTOP.

The nonogram itself is in a 25 x 25 grid which is the same size as the final puzzle from Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water's Edge.

The solution to the puzzle is a pixel art depiction of the sun with a circle around it. At this time, it is unknown what this is referring to as it doesn't explicitly explain who owns the laptop seen in the tech store.

May 12, 2023 // May Newsletter, New Merchandise and Elka Reveal

At 10:05 AM Pacific Time, the official May newsletter started popping up in subscribers' inboxes. This newsletter maintained a similar style to the April newsletter but with a few color changes. It also had several new clues and reveals for ND34. You can view the full newsletter at this link: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/---New-Nancy-Drew-Game--34-In-Production---.html?soid=1101714321700&aid=hmIJ2R0PgNw

The mustard-yellow has been changed to a golden gradient following suit with the rest of ND34's marketing.

The button with the text "New Nancy Drew Mystery" leads directly to the ND34 landing page on HeR Interactive's website. HeR Interactive is also emphasizing the hashtag #ND34 for use in promoting ND34 news.

This image highlights the video where Brittany Cox interviewed and introduced Radek and his voice actor. The background of the image is of the café environment. When clicked, this image links to the video HeR Interactive made with Brittany Cox and Radek's voice actor.

The next image features the café environment and links to the video HeR made showing it off. In the top right of the image is the text "#ND34 BEHIND THE SCENES CHARACTER CONCEPT" even though this video doesn't highlight any behind the scenes character concepts.

The coffee/barista puzzle gets shown off in the puzzle preview video that HeR released a few weeks prior. This image links to that video. The bottom right of the image features some sort of design that is cropped and can't quite be fully evaluated or viewed in this image.

The first new character for ND34 that got introduced was Radek. While this image doesn't link to any videos, it does show off a high-quality screenshot of Radek in-game and a high-quality version of his character concept art.

This graphic shows off the most recently revealed environment of the tech store. Using previously shown screenshots and a brand-new one, this image links to the full video by HeR Interactive. The image in the bottom right featuring the grey boxed/blocked scene wasn't shown before as this one features some lighting changes and testing for the scene. HeR most likely tested this for the purposes of getting a visual grasp on whether or not this environment will work with alternate lighting scenarios.

Mother's Day is on Sunday May 14th, 2023. HeR Interactive acknowledges the celebratory day in their newsletter with a photo of Kate Drew kissing baby Nancy Drew from Nancy Drew: The Silent Spy.

The final graphic contains multiple clues and leads to other clues for ND34. The background of the image shows a new and unrevealed environment with stone walls, an antique light fixture, and a sort of desk or podium. There is some sort of object intentionally cropped out of the picture on the right side of the screen, but with just enough left to tease fans.

There are multiple merchandise items shown here. On the left is an Apple watch, highlighting an Apple watch strap with Nancy Drew icons on it. The watch face has been altered to reveal the exact time of day for the next reveal. In this case, the letters V and XII are shown. They are roman numerals for 5 and 12, or May 12th. The clock hands are in the position of 10:34 signifying the time of day and the bottom of the watch face says UTC - 8:00 signifying the Pacific time zone. All together, it can be translated to say May 12th at 10:34 Pacific time.

The rest of the merchandise items are new and feature clues of their own. The sticker and long sleeve shirt feature very similar graphics, however the Morse code is slightly different. On the sticker it reads ... .- -. ... / .. ... / .-. . .- .-.. which can be translated to say HANS IS REAL. The Morse on the long sleeve shirt reads .- -.. / ...-- ....- / .. ... / .-. . .- .-.. which can be translated to say ND34 IS REAL. The description of that listing also has Morse code which says - --- / - .... . / -.-. .-.. ..- . / -.-. .-. . .-- ---... / .. ..-. / -.-- --- ..- / -.- -. --- .-- / -.-- --- ..- / -.- -. --- .-- and can be translated to say TO THE CLUE CREW: IF YOU KNOW YOU KNOW. The white mug with ND 34 and the Nancy Drew silhouette was made available before this newsletter went out and was originally seen in the coffee puzzle teasers. The final item is the sun shirt in the magnifying glass. There are 3 question marks surrounding it. The sun graphic was first teased in the nonogram puzzle from earlier in the week. Originally, the product listing was called E___'s Shirt as it wasn't yet revealed who E was meant to be. However, at 10:34 AM Pacific time, HeR Interactive revealed E to be Elka. The product listing then changed to Elka's Shirt.

The footer of the newsletter isn't much different than the April 1st newsletter. The hidden text at the bottom of the email reads Sun Shirt In Store to point towards this new clue before the character reveal.

At 10:34 AM Pacific Time, HeR Interactive uploaded the next big reveal for ND34. It highlighted a new character named Elka who owns the laptop in the previous video. She is wearing the same sun shirt that was made available in HeR Interactive's TeeSpring store. Elka appears to be working at the tech store. The video uses a slightly altered version of the music track in the video that introduced the tech store environment. This video also shows Elka's animation which is very high quality compared to the previous game's character animations. HeR Interactive has been blurring out the doors and windows of this location to prevent spoiling what's outside, however this video shows a clip going from outside the doors into the environment. It gives fans a glimpse as to what the outside of the store will look like.

Finally, HeR Interactive updated the ND34 landing page on their website. The magenta laptop icon was replaced with a golden sun icon.

May 15, 2023 // Landing Page Update

HeR Interactive updated the little icon from a golden sun to a magenta telephone icon signifying the next reveal will revolve around a telephone. It is currently unclear whether or not it will be about Nancy's phone, a phone character reveal, or a phone puzzle/phone hacking experience in ND34. They also added high resolution screenshots from the tech store environment with watermarks which can be used as wallpapers on your computer. These are in a carousel slider which can be rotated with ease.

The following images are available on the carousel slider:

May 16, 2023 // Telephone and Morse Code Puzzles

At 2:34 PM Pacific Time, HeR Interactive shared a new puzzle on social media. This puzzle consisted of 9 graphics featuring texts from past game characters to Nancy on how to solve the puzzle. Each image contained the character's name and photo, a screenshot from 8 Nancy Drew games, and the text told fans where to look in each game for the answer to each clue. The images below are the slides HeR shared with the correct solutions to each image. The description of the post read cAn yOu finD a neW HiddEn clue foR #nd34? 🤳 iT's youR call! The capitalized letters can be rearranged to spell WHAT ORDER.

First slide. The blurred background is a currently unknown location from ND34.

Game character is from: 5
Game background is from: 7
Answer to text riddle: 87

Game character is from: 3
Game background is from: 6
Answer to text riddle: 55

Game character is from: 8
Game background is from: 9
Answer to text riddle: 8

Game character is from: 4
Game background is from: 33
Answer to text riddle: 7

Game character is from: 1
Game background is from: 31
Answer to text riddle: 1

Game character is from: 6
Game background is from: 22
Answer to text riddle: 7

Game character is from: 2
Game background is from: 33
Answer to text riddle: 5

Game character is from: 7
Game background is from: 7
Answer to text riddle: 32

The characters from each game determine where in the sequence each number is supposed to go. When correctly arranged in order, the numbers read 1-5-55-7-87-7-32-8. Because this puzzle has to do with phones, there are exactly enough numbers to create a phone number: 15557877328.

When the telephone icon was clicked on the ND34 landing page, it would lead back to this password protected page: https://www.herinteractive.com/nothingtoseehere/. The telephone number was the password to unlock the page. On the page was a single uploaded YouTube video.

The video shows a telephone dialing the phone number from the images. It rings, then a man picks up and says (in a currently unknown accent), "Who's calling? This is an American number. How can I help? That is in the past." There is a burst of static, then a long Morse code message plays.
-.-- / --- / ..- / .-. / ... / -.- / .. / .-.. / .-.. / ... / .... / .- / ...- / . / ..- / -. / -.-. / --- / ...- / . / .-. / . / -.. / .- / -- / -.-- / ... / - / . / .-. / -.-- / ...- / .- / ... / - / --..-- / - / .... / . / .-. / . / .. / ... / -- / --- / .-. / . / - / --- / -.. / .. / ... / -.-. / --- / ...- / . / .-. / .. / -. / - / .... / . / --. / .- / -- / . / ...-- / ....- / -.-. / .- / ... / - / .-.-.- / - / .... / . / .. / -.. / . / -. / - / .. / - / -.-- / --- / ..-. / - / .... / . / -.-. / .- / .-.. / .-.. / . / .-. / .. / ... / .- / -- / -.-- / ... / - / . / .-. / -.-- / -.-. / --- / -. / -.-. / . / .- / .-.. / . / -.. / --..-- / -... / ..- / - / -.- / . / . / .--. / -.-- / --- / ..- / .-. / -.- / . / . / -. / . / -.-- / . / ... / --- / .--. / . / -. / . / -.. / --..-- / ... / --- / --- / -. / - / .... / . / .. / -.. / . / -. / - / .. / - / -.-- / .-- / .. / .-.. / .-.. / -... / . / .-. / . / ...- / . / .- / .-.. / . / -.. / .-.-.-
Translated into English, the code reads YOUR SKILLS HAVE UNCOVERED A MYSTERY VAST. THERE IS MORE TO DISCOVER IN THE GAME 34 CAST. THE IDENTITY OF THE CALLER IS A MYSTERY CONCEALED, BUT KEEP YOUR KEEN EYES OPENED, SOON THE IDENTITY WILL BE REVEALED. In the background of the video is a bunch of static and various sounds from an outdoor area. Children playing, people talking, nature noises, and a violin can all be heard. The last couple seconds of the video are solely a few notes from a violin.

May 19, 2023 // Oskar Reveal Video

At 1:34 PM Pacific Time, HeR Interactive uploaded a brand-new video highlighting the reveal of Oskar. As heard in the previous update, Oskar was the voice on the phone before the Morse code. This video also begins to show off the new environment of the Prague Castle Exhibition Hall. There are multiple teases in this video including several blurred scenes which, in very small portions of the video, aren't blurred. These scenes reveal such information as the crown jewels which are stored in St. Vitus Cathedral and are locked behind seven keys. The scenes also make connections to the Dalibor Knight, alchemical history, and in multiple areas mentions Prague further confirming the game's location. However, HeR Interactive never meant for any of this to be uncovered and yet it slipped through their grasp. The music in this video was originally from Nancy Drew: Treasure in the Royal Tower.

HeR Interactive also updated the ND34 landing page in a few ways. They changed the telephone icon's color to gold, they updated the main YouTube video to the new character reveal video, and they added buttons linking to their Instagram and Teespring merch store where fans can buy ND34-themed merch.

May 22, 2023 // Landing Page Icon Update

The next ND34 landing page icon was revealed to be an hourglass. This change is continuing the trend of changing the icon every time the next reveal is about to be setup. In this case, an hourglass is able to signify a timed period or countdown towards a goal such as a release date.

May 23, 2023 // High Resolution Coffee Puzzle Images

HeR Interactive added some new photos to the ND34 landing page in a high resolution format. They initially did this for the tech store environment, but this time added photos for the coffee puzzle. The following images were made available in high res:

May 25, 2023 // Puzzles, Newsletter, and Countdown

HeR Interactive set a whole set of updates in motion starting at 5:34 AM Pacific Time starting with a new puzzle and a new newsletter. The puzzle was very multi-layered and lead to another secret site which HeR used to lead into the next big reveal on May 26, 2023. You can view the full newsletter at this link: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/---Count-on-Nancy-Drew-for-a-new-case--.html?soid=1101714321700&aid=5c-aNhmH-Fw

The header of the newsletter is the same as the one sent out on May 12th, 2023. It hasn't been altered for this newsletter.

This second section features different message text on the left. The #ND34 is slightly different. In the first May newsletter, all the text was gold. However, in this version only the # and 34 are gold. ND is now black. The "New Nancy Drew Mystery" button functions the same and leads to the ND34 landing page.

This first graphic informs fans to bookmark the landing page for ND34 for all future reveals. When clicked, it links to the landing page for the game. The file name for this image is Newsletter 2023-05-26 Site.

This message contains a hidden URL. All the gold text when spelled out reads HERINTERACTIVE.COM/SOMETHINGTOSEEHERE. This can be entered in a web browser to find the link https://www.herinteractive.com/somethingtoseehere. The link sent people to a password protected page. This image also contains some gold shapes in the top right and bottom left corners of the image. The background is from the Prague Castle as teased in the Oskar reveal video. The file name for this image is Newsletter 2023-05-26 WWW.

This image is very similar to past images that highlight various Nancy Drew merch available on their Teespring store. When clicked, this image links to the store page on the HeR Interactive website. The file name for this image is Newsletter 2023-05-26 New.

This is the first clue to solving the first puzzle of the day. This image contains a heavily blurred background of an unknown environment. The main part of the image features a metal background with black text on it. This puzzle is similar to the puzzle from Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy with the printing plates that tell the player how to get the jetpack working. In this case, 3 more images must be layered on top of this one to reveal the full message. The file name for this image is Newsletter 2023-05-26 Puzzle.

This image features Oskar and his concept art. When clicked, it will link to the Oskar reveal video. The file name for this image is Newsletter 2023-05-26 Every.

The final image in this newsletter features another blurred shot from inside the Prague Castle as shown in the Oskar reveal video. There are two more golden shapes, this time in the top left and bottom right corners of the image. The text reads 34 with an hourglass beside it. When this image is clicked, it leads to a blank link with only the text timestartsnow in the search bar. The file name for this image is Newsletter 2023-05-26 Seven.

The footer for this image contains new text in the golden section compared to previous newsletters. HeR Interactive has changed it with each newsletter leading up to ND34's release as extra hints towards what's coming next. There is hidden text at the bottom of the email which reads 34, count, and down, or 34 countdown. This is a clue to what players will find once they solve the next puzzle.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/mikelloinik/

When the corners of two of the images from the newsletter got placed on top of a map of Czechia, they lined up perfectly with 4 parts of the map further solidifying that Prague is the location for ND34.

Alongside posting the first clue to the puzzle in the newsletter, HeR Interactive shared the remaining 3 images on social media. Each image was different and could be found at the 3 main social platforms for HeR Interactive: Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The description of the posts read the goOd peOple reCogNize This pUzzle 📜 Will you fiND all the pieces? When all the capitalized letters are isolated and rearranged, they read COUNTDOWN.

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

When all put together, the full message reads The past 2 months you've solved every clue & today we have another 4 you. With every reference and every rhyme you're put 2 the test 1 more time. After finding every part, today's final step will mark the start. Solve the riddle down below 2 enter a place that doesn't show! Nancy has traveled far and wide so let's begin by taking a stride through memory lane not near by far, can you list which lands there are? Here's a hint with the rest in your hands, a clue 4 this one is Egypt and Japan. There are more to find that make up the key, another to note is Venice, Italy. Now in what order you may wonder that is left for you to ponder... sort each with the 1st according 2 route and arrive at your goal quick before... time runs out! This riddle tells fans that they need to look at every country that Nancy solved a mystery outside of the United States. In this order, the locations are England, France, Canada, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Germany, Egypt, Scotland, New Zealand, Greece, and Iceland. The password to https://www.herinteractive.com/somethingtoseehere/ is taking the first letter of each of those countries and putting them in the order mentioned above: efciijgesnzgi.

When the password above got entered, it revealed a page with an active countdown which started at 34 hours, 00 minutes, and 00 seconds. There is also an hourglass on the page with the number 7 embedded into it. When the mouse cursor hovers over the hourglass, it shudders and some text appears in the bottom left of the browser with more Morse code: . / ...- / . / .-. / -.-- / ... / . / ...- / . / -. which, when translated to English, reads every seven. This means that every 7 hours, HeR Interactive will make another reveal leading up to when the countdown time reaches 0 across the board at 3:34 PM Pacific Time on May 26, 2023.

HeR also updated the ND34 landing page to make the hourglass icon gold. They also updated the icon as a whole to a different hourglass icon than the one used before.

At 11:34 AM Pacific Time, HeR Interactive shared the next puzzle for May 25th, 2023 which featured another drop-quote puzzle similar to what HeR released on April 6th, 2023. The description of the post reads NancY can heaR somEone’s VoicE 🗣️ hElp hEr SolVe it! When the capital letters are isolated from the rest of the text and rearranged, it reads EVERY SEVEN. The solution to the drop-quote puzzle reads You are not the only detective. In fact, I've a[l]ready so[l]ved one mystery for you. The letter L was not included in the puzzle for the words already solved. HeR Interactive acknowledged this mistake.

This image also features a few more clues. There are various Euro coins adding up to €1.90. There is also a strudel and a magnifying glass opened to page 134 of Nancy Drew #15: The Haunted Bridge. There is a tiny heart drawn beside Ned's name in the magnifying glass.

Finally, at 6:34 PM Pacific Time, HeR Interactive launched the last puzzle of the day. This is a search-and-find puzzle with a math question at the end of it. The description of the post reads iT's lockED 🔒 tiME to trY YouR hAnD at solVing thiS nEw cLuE! When the capital letters are isolated from the rest of the text and rearranged, they spell MYSTERY [R]EVEALED. Originally, there was no second R capitalized, however HeR Interactive acknowledged the mistake and corrected it. To solve the puzzle, fans needed to count the number of times each key in the second slide appears in the first slide. There was a minor mistake in this part of the puzzle, too. The information presented means that the equation should read 8 - 3 + 13 + 5 - 4 + 3 = 22, however the third key had one too many appear in the first slide which meant the final equation should have read 8 - 3 + 12 + 5 - 4 + 3 = 21 to line up with how many hours remained on the countdown timer. When all the individual letters on the various keyboard keys in the image are put together and rearranged, they spell out MASTER SLEUTH.

May 26, 2023 // Puzzles, Countdown Finale, Title and Location Reveal

To start off the first clues of May 26th, HeR Interactive released their first puzzle at 1:34 AM Pacific Time following along with the "new puzzle every 7 hours" announcement they made the day before. This puzzle is a smaller version of the spiral cipher puzzle from April 25th. The description of the post reads helLo, WondErfuL to Meet you!🤝 lIsTen carefuLly To get cLuEd In! All the capitalized letters can be rearranged to spell TIMEWILLTELL! which is a callback to Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock and is a quote from Josiah Crowley.

In order to find the solution to this puzzle, start at the hourglass in the center and and count every seventh letter going in a clockwise format. This would mean the first letter is S, the second letter is H, and so on. When properly solved, the cipher reads She knows many of my friends and all of my flaws. This is a cryptic clue which, at this time, is alluding to an unknown character. The number III and Midnight are highlighted in the chapter heading of the open Nancy Drew book.

The final puzzle before the countdown ended dropped at 8:34 AM Pacific Time. The caption of the post read oNe last PuzZle fOr tOday ⌛ caN you deciPher the rIddles bEfore tIme ruNs ouT? All the capitalized letters can be rearranged to spell PINPOINT ZONE.

To solve this puzzle, each quote must be completed by filling in the missing word. In order, the missing words for all the quotes are next at midnight zone of case location. This phrase means that the next clue (the reveal at the end of the countdown) will happen at midnight in the time zone of the location ND34 takes place in (Prague).

At the end of the 34-hour countdown, the timer disappeared and the text New Nancy Drew Mystery is... appeared. That was the only change made. HeR Interactive uploaded a new teaser video for ND34 on YouTube which can be seen below.

This 34-second video confirmed a few things to be true about Nancy Drew #34. The first thing it confirmed was that the game takes place in Prague. This video also confirmed the game's title to be Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Seven Keys. While it was implied and guessed through the various pieces of info that HeR had released over the months and years, it was officially confirmed on May 26th, 2023. Prague castle's exterior courtyard was the biggest environment reveal thus far. The café is found in the corner of the courtyard. When compared to the real Prague Castle, the in-game version bears a striking resemblance. The café itself also revealed the two blurred portraits on the wall with the Nancy Drew game screenshots. Both the blurred photos were in Prague.

There were 2 new dialogue lines from Brittany Cox as Nancy Drew:

"It's beautiful here!"
"First case I've had in Prague."

The final piece of news from this video was the music track. It had never been used before and was the one that most closely resembled the work of Kevin Manthei and Thomas Regin.

One of the final changes for the day was updating the ND34 landing page. The new video was highlighted and the hourglass icon was changed from a golden hourglass that was half full to a magenta hourglass that was full. This signified that the time was up for the countdown.

The last discovery came in the form of the ND34 landing page header. An updated version was found in the HeR Interactive media library. This version contained the unblurred portraits on the wall of the café.