To help players navigate through the game, "Captive Curse," here is a walkthrough to guide you through the various puzzles and challenges: The game begins with the protagonist, Nancy Drew, arriving at a remote village in Germany to investigate the mysterious disappearances of local citizens. Upon arrival, Nancy discovers a cursed wolf that haunts the village and uncovers a story of an ancient castle and a missing girl. 1. Explore the Village: Begin by exploring the village and interacting with the villagers to gather information about the curse and the missing girl. Speak to Karl, the forester, who will provide valuable insights into the local legends and the history of the castle. 2.

Captive curse walkthrough

For centuries, a fearsome monster has been stalking Castle Finster. Markus Boehm has called Nancy to Castle Finster to help him scare out the truth about the monster.
Germany, a long time ago: Watch a young girl pick mushrooms in a forest. The monster arrives and she runs away. The young girl wears a medallion. She arrives at the closed castle gate. The monster closes in.

Arrival:
-Nancy arrives at the closed castle gate. Ring the doorbell at right side of the gate.
-Lukas answers from above. He will let you in if you solve the match game in the bucket he lowers down.
-Take the paper inside the lowered bucket.

Match game:
-Find the matching monster. Click on the square of the 2 matching monster.
When sure of the selection - click on square of the Check Match at top of the page. I got it!

-Karl appears and raises the caste gate. He wants you to come meet him in his office at the second floor.

Courtyard:
-Look around at the courtyard. See shops at left and a well.
-There are private homes at top level of the buildings.

Burg (Castle) Finster:
-Enter the ornate double door ahead. Face the stairs at right.

Euros - Coins:
-See a coin flash on the banister of the stairs to the mezzanine. Take the coin .
-There are 20 Euros at top left of the screen. Coins picked up during the game will be added to the total. Buying items will decrease the total amount of coins. Not all the coins that are in the game are noted in this walkthrough.
-Climb the stairs to the mezzanine. Go forward to the small table with the candlestick. See the coins flash. Take coins from the table.

Ned:
-Enter through the doors. The phone rings.
-Automatically answers the call from Ned. The reception of the cell phone is bad. An argument with Ned ensues.
-Go forward to the wide landing.

Nancy's room:
Find the room with my name on the door
-Climb the stairs on either side of the wide landing. Go forward to the balcony at other side.
-See a door with Nancy's name on it. Enter and look around.
-Check the mantle of the fireplace and read the Die Ungeheuerlichkeit Nacht Festival schedule.
-Open the armoire and see a shelf for gift shop purchases.

Phone:
-Go to other side of the bed and see the cuckoo clock phone on the desk.
-You can use the landline phone by clicking on the postit list of the phone numbers or manually dialing by zooming and click in the numbers.

Call Frank to check in:
-After a while (time varies); get a call from Frank Hardy about Ned.
-Use the landline phone and call Frank. Call Ned but get a recording.

Find something to help translate some signs here:
-Look at the side table beside the bed. Take the German English dictionary . Exit the room.

Karl's office:
Phone charm:
(Special edition game only) From Nancy's room, use left stairs to go back to the landing at other side of the balcony.
Pick up the blue-white phone charm on the right side railing close to the landing (not balcony).

Find Karl's office:
-At the landing, turn right or left to the side hallways (not the stairs).
-There are 2 side alcoves with chairs and table:
-One alcove has a book about History of Castle Finster. Read the book and learn about Freiherr Amsel and his daughter Else.
-The other alcove has a puzzle box with colored glass tiles on it. It is missing glass pieces.

Check in with Karl:
-Enter the Bürgermeister room at middle of the hallway. See Karl Weschler, the Bürgermeister playing with dolls.
-Talk to Karl. Learn about his feeling about the monster, newspaper (Castle Cryer), lederhosen, tourists and his game.

Play a game of Raid with Karl:
-Play Raid game. Choose Easy first until you learn the mechanics of the game.
-Read the Game Rules book at bottom right.
-You have 2 opponents seen at sides of the board.
-A player turns the spinner at bottom left and moves on the board based on the number obtained.
-The color of the square the player lands on determines what challenge is to be done by the player.
-The card selected shows the character stat of that player's hand.
-So if the opponent (or you) lands on a red square, select your card with the strongest red attribute to fight with.
-Select an opponent with less cards to choose from.
-The winner is the one that gets to the castle at center of the board first.
-Win or lose get 15 Euros from Karl for testing his game.
-Continue to talk to Karl. Learn about Lukas, the head of security's son.

Explore Karl's office:
-Look around Karl's office.

Cabinet :
-Check the cabinet left of Karl and see that the bottom drawer is active.
-Open the panel at right to see a keypad. Uh oh. We'll check that later.

Raid board game:
-See a board game on the table. If you need money, play this board game or ask Karl.

Sparrow painting:
-Go forward and turn around. Look left and close at the sparrow painting on the wall

Raid:
-Turn right to the right wall.

Read the game guide in Karl's study:
-Read the Raid Game Guide at bottom shelf.
-See that the characters are taken from Grimm's fairy tales. They are either: heroes, monsters or magicians.
-Professor Sparrow is the one on the painting on the wall. There's a key icon on the description.
-The last page waits for a new design.

Fix the cards I knocked down in Karl's office:
-Look at top shelf.
-Take note of the scales with cards on it. There are 3 scales with 3 cards on them. They are not evenly balanced.
-Touch the scales and they all fall down. Karl says to put back the cards the way it was.
-Remember that the scales were not even before. The middle scale is highest and the right scale is lower than the rest.
-Arrange the cards to weigh the same way (or original level) before you touched them.
-Each scale has a monster, hero and magic.

Left pan: Sailor RedBraid, The Donkey King and Fairy Trigger.
Middle pan: Fenarius Wolf, Professor Sparrow and Enchanted Mirror.
Right pan: The Robber, Bonaparte and The Golden Hunter. Got it !

-See a paper fall off from the scale.
-Take the German note . Use the dictionary on the paper. Read the note from Markus to Karl.

Karl's game:
-Talk to Karl again. Learn that his game is being submitted to the International Board, Card Association for review.
-He asks for help in making a new character. Select any information of your choice about the character.

Meet everyone in the castle.
Banquet room:
-Go around to the large landing using either side hallway.
-Go forward to the white tiled solarium. See Nancy's room above by the balcony and a double door on lower floor.
-Enter the double doors.

Glass window :
-Look at the stained glass window that shows the castle and a woman. Look close at the window.
-Take the blue tile at bottom right.

Castle Cryer:
-Back up and turn left. Go forward to the hutch at end of the room.
-Look close and read the castle newspaper - Castle Cryer. Read about the monster, Karl and festival.
-Note the vocabulary article. sun (sonne), comet (komet) and moon (mond) are some of the translated words.
-Take the coin at right end of the counter.

Renate:
-Turn around and talk to the old woman sitting by the fireplace.
-She knows Nancy. The monster is here for Nancy. Learn that Karl never leaves the castle. She loves food; one of her favorites is Black Forest cake.
-Hear a story about the young girl in the forest who lost a scarf with a row of elephants. Renate doesn't want you here.
-Note that she has her bag beside her. Exit the banquet room.

Side rooms:
-After leaving the banquet room, go up to the solarium.
-There are 2 side solariums - rooms. One leads to the foyer and the other leads to the gift shop and furnace room.
-Go to the left side room with the banquet room on your back. At the side room, go down the stairs.
-Check the door of the locked furnace room ahead. Turn back and go to the side hallway. Be at the gift shop.

Gift shop:
Meet Anja :
-Talk to Anja Mittelmeier, the castellan of the castle.
-She also warns Nancy.
-She talks about the monster situation, Renate and Karl.
-Learn about the coins found around the castle and Karl's game.

Explore the shop :
-If you looked at an item in the store and click again with the $cursor - you buy it.
-So choose which one you want. Pull out of the screen if you do not want to buy the item. Items bought are placed in the armoire in your room.

Cuckoo clocks:
-Check the clocks on the wall.

Glass :
-Pan right and read The Art of Glass book above the glass case.
-Inside is a paper with drawn sun, moon and comet.
-There's a code at the bottom.
-Take coded message 1 .

Postcards:
-Look close at the postcards right of the entryway to the side stairs.

Snack server:
-Look at the mini chalet right of the postcards.
-You can buy snacks here (pretzels, hotdog, German chocolate cake and turnover) by selecting the picture of the snack.
-Then click on the slot at right to enter the coins. See the cuckoo and the delivery of the food.
-To save time, order German chocolate cake (top right) that Renate loves.
-The cake is placed in a cardboard box in inventory.

Grimm's Baddies:
-Check the bookcase right of Anja.
-Read the book - Grimm's Baddies. Read the titles of the other books. :)

Monsters What and Why:
-Check the book beside the monster at the corner. Learn about the different monsters.
-Open the base of the monster. Select your language and press the different buttons. Try the other language. LOL.

Anja again:
-Talk to her again and talk about Ned. Learn she had a boyfriend when she was young.
-Learn about the glass display. Learn about the glassblowing here at the castle. Only Karl and Anja have the key to the glassblowing room-furnace.
-Exit through the glass door beside Anja.

Explore the foyer part 1:
Lukas:
-Talk to Lukas Mittelmeier.

Monster game:
-Play Monster with Lukas.
-The farmer player places cows on the board.
-The opponent places the 3 monsters from top left on the board by clicking on some selected cows. The cows change to monsters. Then click on the done square at bottom of the screen.
-Select-click on any cows that you want to kill as long as they are connected to the monsters. The available cows are highlighted.
-Move the scared wide-eyed cows and the monster to new location on the board. Select a scared cow or monster and then click the location anywhere on the board that you want to move it to.
-The farmer player then guesses where the monsters are located.
-The monster chooser's aim is to kill as many cows and hide the monsters; if so the farmer loses.
-The farmer player's aim is to deduce the locations of the 3 hidden monsters; the monster chooser then loses the game.

Play a round of Monster with Lukas:
-You have to play as monster and farmer to finish a round.
-Get Raid cards if you win. Pull back to stop playing. If you get a full deck of Raid cards, you might get an award.
-Talk to Lukas again. Learn that Anja and Karl always fight.
-Learn that if Renate is given food; she goes to sleep. Learn also about secret passages. Lukas saw something there that might be a monster.

Coffee table:
-Check the coffee table.
-Read The Brothers Grimm book. Pick up the 3 pronged control key from the table.
-Take the coin from the top shelf of the side table.

Glockenspiel - Clock:
-Check the clock at the corner.
-Take the coin from the left bell tower.
-Open the bottom drawer and see the glockenspiel. There must be a specific order to play them in .

Call Markus back on the phone in my room:
Markus :
-(Can happen anytime outside the Gift shop).
-Get a call from Markus, the man that hired Nancy.
-He wants to Nancy to call back using the land line.

Phone charm:
-(Special edition game only) Enter the other side door -Before climbing to the central solarium, take the eagle phone charm from the wall by right stairs railing.

Ned:
-(Can happen anytime outside the Gift shop).
-Get a call from Ned.
-Go back to Nancy's room by using one of the side stairs on the floor above.

Markus:
-Use the cuckoo clock phone and select or dial Markus' number.
-Talk to Markus. He's bringing foreign investors tomorrow.
-Learn that he and Anja used to date. Markus broke up with her.

Ned and Frank:
-Call Ned back.
-Then call Frank or get a call from Frank himself.

Explore the courtyard:
Monster sighting:
-After the phone calls, Karl knocks on the door.
-Open the door and he say the monster is in the courtyard.
-Automatically be at the courtyard.
-See the plant is burning.
-The door on the left has claw marks.

Fire:
-Turn around and click on the well at left.
-Click on bucket and it will automatically get water from the well.
-Take the bucket of water and use it on the fire.

Destroyed door:
-Check the destroyed door of the florist shop.
-Look close at the bottom part and take a burr .
-Move towards well and turn around to see the doors of the shop beside the well.
-Use the dictionary on the signs: florist, herbalist and antiques.
-Knock on doors and see that no one wants to open the door.

Well :
-Turn back to the well. Use the bucket again and get coins , other items from Nancy's past games and-or foreign coins.
-Look close-click inside well to check the well. See that it is dark. That well needs exploring.

Musical note paper:
-Turn around from the well or the shops.
-Go across to the door below the street level.
-Turn around and see a paper on the steps.
-Study the paper and see musical notes quiz.
-Learn the notes.
-This will be helpful in playing the glockenspiel.

Coins:
-Check the seat of the buggy left of the gate and get a coin .
-Check the circular planter with a tree (beside the left bench-lamppost) on the courtyard and get a coin .
-Take the coin under the peddler's cart left of the shop.

Stairs:
- Climb the stairs left of the Burg (Castle) Finster door.
-Go forward and pick up the dull shears outside the locked door.
-Go down the stairs and take the coin on the window sill below the stairs.

Ask about the costume:
Markus:
-Sometime, get another call from Markus.
-He wants you to call him back on the landline.

Get wet:
-Go back to your room.
-After opening the door, a bucket of water drops down on Nancy.
-Learn that her suitcase is lost.
-Check the bed and see a costume.
-Read the note attached to the costume.
-Click to change to the Bavarian costume.
-Nancy's clothes are left on bed.
-Use the phone to call Markus.

Lukas :
-Go downstairs and talk to Lukas about the costume and the bucket of water.

Anja :
-Go to the gift shop and talk to Anja.
-Learn about Markus and the costume.
-The costume looks familiar to Anja.

Karl (Ask around for a key to the glass shop):
-Go to Karl's office.
-Talk to Karl about the burr. I
-It is from the woods.
-Take burr back.
-He allows Nancy to enter the glass shop but keep away from the furnace.
-Take the glass shop key .
-Learn that Anja wants Renate to go.
-Learn about the history of the monster and the Freiherr's daughter.

Renate:
-Go to the banquet room.
-Talk to Renate.
-Renate wants you to take off the costume.
-She is upset.

Nancy's clothes:
-Go to Nancy's room.
-Check the bed and see that Nancy's clothes are in shreds.

Legend clue page 17:
-Look by the fireplace.
-Take the legend clue page 17 from the floor.
-See that it has TK at bottom right and has a picture of the well.

Find a way to look at everything in Renate's bag:
Renate:
-Go to the banquet room.
-Talk to Renate and tell her you can't change clothes since they are shredded.
-Talk to her over and over until the dialogues are completed.
-Leave the dialogue about giving her food last.
-Take the cake from the box.
-Automatically give her the black forest cake.
Remember what Lukas said - she falls asleep after eating.

Save game here.

Renate's bag:
- Look close at Renate's bag beside her chair.
-Open the main flap of the bag.
-See the contents of the bag.

Book:
-Read The Owl book first.
-Take the legend clue page 25 from inside the book.
-See that it has N at bottom right and a picture of an opened trap door.

Box:
-Take the box with metal balls-buttons on the lid.
-The aim of the puzzle is to get to the box at bottom right without waking Renate up.
-Left click to pick up and release an item. Right click to turn the item
-Place them as close as possible where you want that item and then left click to release it.
-Take the box .

Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse (Part Two)

Previously on Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse: A monster has been terrorizing Castle Finster for centuries, and people have been trying to capture it for about that long, but to no avail. Enter Nancy Drew, who’s going to bust this case open in one night. Several German detectives are rolling over in their graves. Said monster “attacked”, by which I mean started a fire in a trash can and then left. Apparently this is terrifying, and all the villagers are freaking out. Then we got into a fight with Ned, who’s developed some level of self-awareness and is starting to notice how often Nancy ditches him in these games.

So we got a bucket of water dumped on us, and naturally Nancy’s suitcase has been lost (just pack a carry-on, Nancy!), so we’ve had to borrow some traditional German clothes, and now we’re wandering around the castle dressed like a 19th-century Bavarian. Hey, it’s a look.

We go back down to the foyer, and we can read a book about the Brothers Grimm on the coffee table. When we’re done reading it, we’ll pick up this weird plug-looking key thing.

Lukas immediately mocks our outfit. “Your outfit is pretty weird too,” Nancy says, because I’m not about to take shit from a snotty 9-year-old in lederhosen. Anyway, this is his fault, since he put that bucket of water over our door. “I’m only allowed to watch two hours of television a week,” Lukas says. “I’ve got a lot of time on my hands.” Heh.

We can ask him about the rest of the suspects, since we’ve met them now: he’s not a huge fan of Renate, and neither is his dad. Lukas thinks she steals or something; whatever is up with her, no one here trusts her. Hmm. As for Markus, Lukas doesn’t know him, but he thinks his dad doesn’t like him. HMMM.

I go to Anja to talk to her about the monster, but she ropes us into talking about our boy problems instead. She offers us a shoulder to cry on: “Us girls have to stick together.” #Sisterhood! That’s nice and all, but let’s pry some more information out of Anja first. What are her thoughts on Renate? Surprisingly, Anja loves Renate — they spend hours talking together, although I really can’t imagine about what. Anja thinks people are too hard on Renate; on the other hand, she does admit that Renate has a suspicious tendency to show up whenever the monster does. Anja adds that the last time Renate was here, she told a story that terrified the castle and made everyone scared to go outside, and then she took the opportunity to snoop around the castle. So Renate is actually pretty creepy, but then again, we kind of knew that.

Anja tells us that Lukas is her nephew — his security guard dad is her brother, which is interesting. Lukas is very much a troublemaker, but a good kid under it all. Anja is lenient with him because she thinks he’s lonely, as he doesn’t seem to have many friends at school.

Now! “What do you think of the castle’s owner?” Nancy asks. Tell us all the gory details of your relationship, Anja! Anja’s all, “What’s his name? Markus, right?” like she didn’t used to bone the guy on the regular. She shrugs that he seems all right, if a little “culturally tone-deaf” — this whole lederhosen-and-dirndl thing isn’t what Germany is really like, it’s a “theme park” version of history. What’s funny is that I think that’s the exact phrasing someone used in a criticism of the Nancy games, so I imagine this is HER’s little dig at that. I dunno, it’s not like HER’s ever attempted to actually fix their depictions of other countries, so it’s like they want points for being self-aware without ever actually taking the criticism into consideration. On the other hand, the overblown, stereotypical settings are part of the series’ charm, much like Nancy’s corny one-liners and her mom jeans. Anyway, Anja says she would run the castle differently if she owned it, but brushes off the idea that she’s actually serious about taking over the castle.

Speaking of outfits, Anja compliments ours, but denies leaving the dress out for us. She muses that it seems familiar, somehow, but she can’t place it. Uh-oh. That never bodes well.

We bring up the monster attack, and Anja says that even though it seems silly to worry about the monster, the castle does have a dark history of girls disappearing.

One of the things that makes this game really creepy, I think, is that gendered violence has never been a part of the Nancy Drew universe — we’ve had culprits of both sexes, and they’re usually motivated by buried treasure, revenge, or general craziness (lookin’ at you, Renee). The game doesn’t say why the monster targets girls specifically, leading us to assume that it’s just because they’re female, just like in real life. Maybe it’s because young girls are the target audience of these games, that HER doesn’t want to focus on that particular type of crime, so its appearance here adds a layer of dark realism to this game.

So anyway, let’s just…completely shift gears away from the idea of a monster in the woods carrying young girls off, and talk about glassblowing! We noticed a book about glass earlier, over a display in the gift shop. Anja tells us that she makes the glass herself, right here in the castle. There’s a glass shop in the basement, but we can’t go there, as Anja or Karl need to supervise us, and they’re far too busy. Doing what? Playing board games?

Now that all that’s out of the way, let’s talk about boys with Anja. We can break out the nail polish and hair straighteners and make a slumber party out of it! Nancy sighs that she wants to apologize to Ned for unceremoniously ditching him, but he also needs to let her live her life. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to be with him, just that she, you know, needs some space so she can run off to Europe whenever she feels like it. Anja’s like, “Okay, so just call him up and tell him that.” Nancy’s like, “Oh. I thought your advice was gonna be longer.”

Anja waxes on about a boyfriend she had when she was younger and how in love they were. Was this boyfriend Markus? Does she know that Nancy already knows the TRUTH? For some reason, we can’t call her on pretending not to know Markus earlier; instead, we ask if they dated, and she says yes. Then how come you were all acting like you didn’t know he owned the castle, huh? HUH? Man, I hate when these games don’t let me be as aggressive as I want to. Anja is pretty chill about the whole thing, and tells us that she and Markus have moved on and have decided to be mature about working together. If she says so.

We exit the gift shop, and promptly get a call from Ned. He apologizes and says that he shouldn’t blame Nancy for having a more exciting life than him; she’s a super sleuth and that’s just how it is. Nevertheless, he is going to try to have more of his own life, so he’s not marinating in resentment while she’s off having adventures. Aw. That’s a nice sentiment and resolution to this, I think. Ned suggests that maybe one day he’ll even be able to help her on a case, which is some nice foreshadowing for the next game. Nancy dorks that she’s happy to have such a great boyfriend in her life, and then tells him she’ll call him on the land line. She’s all pleased that they’ve made up: “Huzzah!” she writes in her journal. Oh my God, Nancy, sometimes it’s hard to pretend I’m you.

But first, since we’re here, let’s bug Lukas again. We ask him about his reputation as a prankster, and he gets all snippy that he’s not a mere prankster — he has something big planned that will elevate him to…prankmeister, or something. Nancy’s like, “Man, you need to get outside more,” and Lukas admits that he doesn’t have any friends. Kids at school call him “Creepy Lukas” because of all the horror stories surrounding the castle, and they definitely don’t want to come over and hang out here with him. Aw, man. This shit is getting me in all my grammar school feelings :(

I feel bad enough for Lukas that I play a round of Monster with him, which is a fairly easy game. Basically there are three monsters on the board, and every turn, you kill a cow that’s connected to one of the monsters. Lukas is the farmer who has to figure out where the monsters are, while we have to kill cows without getting caught. Then we switch, before the game ends. If we win, Lukas will give us Raid cards.

I don’t feel bad enough to play more than once, though. Let’s go talk to Karl! Ned can wait a little longer, right?

We show Karl the burr and ask if he recognizes what kind of plant it’s from. Uh, didn’t Renate say Karl never leaves the castle? I feel like maybe he can’t help us here. He tells us that the burr came from the woods. Ah, yes, that really narrows it down. Nevertheless, that’s apparently the solution to the burr clue, so we’ll have to go out there and…find…the single plant…that this burr came off of. Which is in the woods. Somewhere. Anyway, we also tell Karl that we want to see the glass room, and he just hands over the key without questioning us. He’s like, “Supervision? What supervision? Uh, don’t walk into the furnace. That’s all I got.”

Once again, we run through our remaining suspects with him. Karl likes Renate and thinks she’s a great storyteller — he doesn’t understand why Anja doesn’t want her around! Wait, what? Anja told us she and Renate were besties! Karl ominously suggests that perhaps Anja is pretending to be friendlier than she really is. Yikes.

Karl knows a little more about the monster legend, which he’ll tell us: nobody’s ever seen the monster, “only the destruction it leaves behind.” This means, of course, that nobody can identify what kind of animal/human/Frankenstein hybrid it is. In the olden days, the villagers used to leave food for the monster so it wouldn’t attack their livestock, but one day it broke into the castle and carried away the Freiher’s [sic] only daughter. The Freiherr was pissed and ordered that they stop leaving food for the monster, and the daughter was never found. Karl’s like, “Of course, this whole story could’ve been made up.”

We leave Karl’s office, and run straight into this portrait in the hall, titled “Freiherr’s Daughter”. Well, hey, what are the chances that this is the exact same Freiherr’s daughter that we were just talking about? The plaque notes that the portrait was damaged by fire in 2006 — I love when the newer games give concrete dates, just because it so clearly throws off the bizarro, vaguely present day timeframe that the series tries to place the games in — and that this is a restored version. Interesting.

Let’s check out the glass room. Back in River Heights, Ned is staring sadly at the phone, waiting for it to ring. We find some glassblowing tools lying around, which we promptly steal.

Then I open up the furnace and burn myself to a crisp. Uh, maybe I should come back later.

Then, instead of calling Ned, we go to see Renate. Wow, I do not remember dicking Ned around this much when I was actually playing the game. Renate is pissed to see us in our traditional gown, and yells at us to change right now. She refuses to talk to us until Nancy’s back in her mom jeans. Well, damn, Renate, maybe you should’ve lent us some clothes if you’re gonna be like this about it!

But when we get back to our room, Nancy’s clothes have been shredded! Hey, what gives, this is like one of Nancy’s least visually offensive outfits so far. Although it does bear a frightening resemblance to my Catholic school uniform.

Over by the fireplace, we find this page that’s been mysteriously dropped on our floor. By whoever shredded our clothes? It’s a story about the monster, and it seems like finding the monster has something to do with the well in the courtyard. Also note the “TK” in the corner.

Since we’re in our room, let’s go to the phone and call…Frank. Wow, I am the worst girlfriend ever. Frank tells us that he’s glad Nancy and Ned are back together. I imagine he’s saying that while sliding pins into a voodoo doll of Ned. “Thanks for being such a good friend,” Nancy says. Heh. Frank’s probably silently crying on the other end of the line. Friendzoned again :(, he writes in his diary later that night.

We ask after Joe, which prompts Frank to read a letter Joe has written about the end of Nedcy. I’m going to quote the whole thing, because it is amazing: “Dear Nancy Drew — he used your last name for some reason — I’m glad you and Ned are back together. You go together like peanut butter and jelly. When you’re apart, it’s like peanut butter and sadness, or peanut butter and uncomfortable silences. Either way, you’re looking at a sandwich that no one wants, and probably no one will buy it ever.” Nancy’s like, “Uh, that’s nice,” and Frank says, “Oh, you wish that was the end of the note. It goes on: A world where Ned and Nancy are not together as a couple is as disturbing as it is dangerous to the quantum makeup of our interstellar plane of reality. You know what, I’m just going to stop reading there.” Hee.

We can run down our suspects and recap the game so far. Nancy notes that the castle residents seem to think that the monster is the same one that terrorized the castle centuries ago, but that’s not possible, is it? “Maybe the monster is just a convenient scapegoat,” Frank says. “Scapegoat?” Nancy says, and then Frank has to explain what a scapegoat is. Nancy, I feel embarrassed for you. We also bring up Renate’s over the top reaction to our dress, and Frank muses that perhaps it reminds her of something painful in her past. Uh, isn’t this dress like 19th-century style? Maybe even older, like medieval. Renate’s not that old. Still, the clothes shredding makes Frank and Nancy think that someone’s trying to keep her in the costume, possibly for nefarious purposes. Uh-oh.

Okay, it looks like I didn’t call Ned at all. Whoops! Let’s go talk to Anja, and ask her about the monster’s mysteriously long lifespan. She doesn’t give us a straight answer, but she seems to think that the monster really has been alive for centuries, saying the reason it’s so scary is because it’s from a time we don’t know how to survive in anymore.

Let’s use some of our hard-earned money to buy snacks. Remember how Renate loves Black Forest cake, and it makes her pass out? We’ll be doing that soon, so let’s keep this handy.

We tell Renate we can’t change out of our clothes, as someone’s ripped up the outfit we arrived in. Renate muses that someone wants us to “look the part.” Hmm. Anyway, let’s ask Renate more about her job. We’ve heard that she’s always conveniently around when the monster is, what’s up with that? Renate gets hella defensive, and snips that we better watch what we say.

So, anyway, Renate, do you like…have a house? Renate vagues that “home” is wherever she is — it’s hard to always be leaving home, but traveling is nice, because in a way, she’s always heading home. So…I’m guessing no, then. She tells us that she doesn’t have any family left, but doesn’t seem particularly bitter about it: “Don’t be [sorry]. We had beautiful days while they lasted.” Aw, so Renate wasn’t always as salty and bitter as she is now.

We also ask about her reputation as a thief/monster chaster/generally creepy old woman, and Renate’s like, “I don’t give a damn about my bad reputation!” She’s salty that storytelling is dying out as a career option, what with kids these days being into video games and movies. I would’ve thought that storytelling would’ve started dying out with the advent of like…books, but okay. Renate ominouses that the stories that have been passed down for “millenia” are dying off. And anyone who doesn’t know the stories will probably die, too, if it just so happens to turn out that they’re real.

We have a final option to ask Renate her thoughts on Karl, and she’s like, “Ugh, he’s such a fuckup.” Hee. I love that that’s the universal opinion of Karl around here. He did kind of ditch us in the face of a two-inch tall fire, so I can see where they’re coming from.

Now we want to knock Renate out, and we know that giving her cake will send her into a food coma. #relatable, tbh. Weirdly, in the walkthroughs I’ve seen, she’s always pleased to take the cake, but when I gave it to her, she goes, “That? Uh, all right.” Is my cake not good enough for you, Renate? Why am I so bad at these games?

Once she’s passed out, we can look through her bag. Nancy will note the mysterious brown box piled under all her other crap, and says we need to get to it without waking her up. Well, how hard can that be?

Ah, shit. Okay, let’s try again.

Okay, I finally mange to pile everything away from the box without waking up Renate. Also, are those…”chicken-scented” markers? What would that even be like?

The box is locked by this puzzle. It’s similar to a puzzle that appeared in Secret of the Old Clock — we have to place the correct color in each circle, and the four lights at the bottom of each column indicate if we have the the correct colors in each column and if they’re in the right place. There are seven colors, but only four slots. Once you fill in one column, the lights will tell you if you have the correct colors, and if any of them are in the right place, and then you move on to the next column and try to fill it in again. There are 10 columns, so 10 chances to get it right.

Once we get the box opened, we find this map, marked with places the monster’s been seen, and places where girls have disappeared. “It seems like she’s tracking the monster!” Nancy gasps. OMG, could Renate be a fellow girl detective? She could be our sidekick!

Nancy will also note that this castle appears to have a dungeon (of course it does). We’ll have to find our way there soon.

We also find another page from the monster story, with an N at the corner. “I’d better hang on to this,” Nancy says.

Nancy logics out that the glass room is the lowest accessible room in the castle, ergo the entrance to the dungeon is in here.

In order to open up the passage to the dungeon, we have to slide this metal door in front of the furnace, then use a pair of tongs that are lying around to lift the lever under the “A.”

Wooo, secret tunnel!

In the passageway, we find a trap door as well as a mysterious keyhole-type-thing. Nancy will also pick up another mysterious story page. The one we find this time has an “OM” in the corner.

That’s all the clues for the passageway so far, so we go back to the glass room. We trip over a loose cord, and we can plug it in to get the sander working. Now we can sharpen the shears we found in the courtyard, so Nancy can stab anyone that gets too close to her.

Back in the foyer, Lukas wants us to distract Karl so Lukas can prank him. We agree, because it’d be hypocritical of Nancy to hold someone back from dicking another person around, but also because we want to get Lukas away from his area so we can snoop.

So we go to see Karl. Before we get to Lukas’s prank, we have a new conversation option to talk about the missing girls. “Those, I do not like to talk about,” Karl snips. Nancy’s like, “Dude, help me out here,” and Karl relents and grumbles that the girls are the monster’s past victims. There are rumors that the monster takes the girls to live with it as its bride in the forest, which is creepy enough on its own. Nancy’s like, “Golly, is that what you think?” and Karl snorts, “No. Come on now.” Heh. Then he says, “Those girls never come back, that alone is enough to keep me up at night.”

Another thing that really adds to the atmosphere of the game is that the characters actually treat the disappearing girls with gravitas, instead of being like, “Oh ha ha! Silly legends! The girls probably ran away to party in 19th-century Berlin or some shit!” Every conversation with the characters really does feel like they’re imparting dark secrets.

Karl adds that if the monster really is back, we should probably stop cosplaying as one its victims. Nancy’s like, “Say what?” Karl points out that the victims have always been young women, which Nancy is, and they tended to run around in old-fashioned clothes, like Nancy is. He’s like, “I’m just saying.” Uh-oh.

Finally, we can distract him, by which I mean flat-out tell him that Lukas wants to prank him, and it would be cool if he just sat here and let it happen. Karl agrees to pretend not to know Lukas is coming. Heh. So maybe Karl’s not quite as dumb as he seems.

…you know, it just occurred me, there are like absolutely zero chores in this game. That’s crazy, and also kind of delightful. This game has, I think, some of the best pacing in the series.

We go back to report to Lukas that Karl’s ready for him, but first, let’s ask if Lukas knows anything about the missing girls. Sure, let’s ask the 9-year-old about the violent abduction and murder of a bunch of girls. Lukas shrugs that he’s heard that the monster killed them. Then he races off to go prank Karl, so we can poke around his area. We spy a piece of paper under the chair behind Lukas, so now we can read it.

There’s a message written in code, to Lukas from his dad. It’s telling him how to get into the security booth so he can visit his dad. Aw, that’s sweet. Given that Lukas is just a kid, the code’s not hard to crack — we just have to swap the letters vertically in each line — and we find out that we have to play the glockenspiel in the foyer. The notes are hidden around the castle.

The note tells us where to find all the musical notes, so we just run around the castle collecting all of them. In order, the notes are: G, D, B, G, A.

I found the passage to the security booth earlier, but let’s see if Lukas will tell us where it is, anyway. He won’t, but we can ask some questions about his family now. He tells us that his English is so good because his mom is American, but she’s not really around because she’s always on business trips. Right now she’s interviewing for a new job, so they might have to move. Nancy’s like, “Well, you live in a monster-infested castle and all your classmates hate you, so maybe that’s a good thing?” Lukas insists that he likes living here.

The glockenspiel that we have to play is in one of the foyer wall panels, underneath the clock. We play the correct notes, and another panel will open up.

The security booth is empty, and all the monitors are shut down. Dude, there’s a monster on the loose! I feel like someone should be watching out for that. Anyway, so we find a puzzle that will turn the power on to the booth, but we can’t solve it yet.

We find this phone, which sends out security alerts to the castle. We can put our cell phone in the tray, and now we’ll be alerted whenever something suspicious happens. Behind the phone, we find the manual to help us solve the power puzzle.

Like most of these puzzles, I am not going to pretend to understand what’s happening here. Clicking on a number sends charges to all of the numbers connected to it, and we have 5 chances to click on the right numbers to get all 18 buttons lit up. The walkthrough says to click 10, 8, 2, 7, and 6, and that is what I did. Please don’t ask me to explain any further, because I cannot.

We can now see what’s going on in all the castle’s rooms, and…hey, is that Renate creeping around the gift shop? “What’s she doing there?” wonders Nancy. Yeah, she doesn’t really seem the type to want a wacky monster T-shirt — but then again, people can have layers!

We go to the gift shop, and Nancy will note that Renate was looking at the clocks. Hmm, but why? Then we find a piece of paper, with a bunch of mysterious cutouts in it. It looks like Renate dropped this, so it must be important.

I went to see if there’s anything we can say to Karl — he tells us that he didn’t mange to catch Lukas pranking him. Then we can step back and talk to him again — “Didn’t we just have a conversation?” Karl asks. Hee! These games are getting frighteningly self-aware. Anyway, we can keep helping him create a new character for his board game, and that’s about it.

Ah, here’s the part where I called Ned. Sorry to keep you waiting, Ned! It’s a good thing he has no life and nothing better to do. We tell him about our weird dress and finding the dungeon, and Ned gets sidetracked into a ramble: “You know, someone had to invent the first dungeon. So one day someone had to say…you know, the living room’s nice and the kitchen’s great, but you know what we need? Our own private jail.” Heh. Ned advises us to steer clear of the dungeon. Ned, we can’t do that, that’s where all the clues are, keep up.

We ask how Ned’s search for excitement is going, and he says that he’s found something fun for all of us to do — him, Nancy, Bess, and George. Uh, wasn’t the point of this whole thing for Ned to do something not involving Nancy? Whatever. Anyway, he tells us we’ll need a team name, which is foreshadowing for the next game. Ned muses that maybe he should get an edgier presentation — “Get a motorcycle maybe? Stay out past ten pm? Return library books at the wrong branch?” OMG, and I finally have the opportunity to post my favorite Nancy Drew thing, ever:

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN NED TURNS BAD BOY, INDEED.

Ned whines that he feels lame when Nancy and the Hardy Boys go on and on about their exciting lives. “Maybe I should get a hobby,” he muses. Oh, Ned. Is this the saddest depiction of him in the games so far? I think it is.

Anyway, let’s go talk to Renate about her little visit to the gift shop. Renate denies going in there, and is like, “I’m just a feeble old lady, I can’t remember where I am or what I’m doing!” Somehow, I doubt that. Anyway, we can also ask if she likes traveling around, and Renate rants about how in her day, every town used to be different and traveling was fun, but now everywhere’s the same and there are Starbucks and McDonald’s on every corner, and kids these days are too coddled and are ruining the housing market because they spend all their money on avocado toast. Whatever, Renate.

We leave Renate, and promptly get a call from security: “Monster sighted on castle grounds. This is not a drill.” Oh, snap!

We run to the security booth and see the the monster is out in the courtyard. So by all means, let’s go outside and say hi.

The monster’s just leaving the courtyard, and Nancy tries to follow it. Sure! Let’s just follow the scary, girl-kidnapping monster into the dark woods. WHY NOT. (I might have started singing “I’ll Follow You Into the Dark” here. Don’t judge me.)

Unfortunately for us, the gates come down on both sides, trapping us in the entryway. Then the monster comes back! It jump scares its way into the frame and is like, “Sup.” Then it lumbers off into the woods, leaving us stuck here. What, is Nancy Drew not good enough to be carried off? I will have you know that we are grade-A kidnapping material, buddy!

Anyway, I’ll end this part here, trapped outside the castle. OR ARE WE? Up next: Nancy escapes, as you knew she would. We finally go into the spooky woods, and everyone tells us their personal problems.

Nancy Drew 24: The Captive Curse Hints. Not your ordinary walkthrough.

The UHS gives you just the hints you need to solve many games. We give you as much detail as any walkthrough, but unlike ordinary walkthroughs or cheats, we show you just the hints you need, so your game is never spoiled. Select the area where you're stuck and keep reading to get the right level of help.

• General Info

• Getting Started

• Lukas the Prankster
• Karl the Burgermeister
• Anja the Castellan
• Renate the Storyteller
• Markus the Owner

• Nancy's Room
• The Glass Room
• The Forest

• Monster Sightings

• Hidden Places

• End Game: After the Abduction

• Puzzles

• After You Win: Questions, Answers, and Fun Stuff

Others also read:

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• Nancy Drew 23: Shadow at the Water's Edge Hints - Not your ordinary walkthrough
• Nancy Drew 25: Alibi in Ashes Hints - Not your ordinary walkthrough
• Nancy Drew 29: The Silent Spy Hints - Not your ordinary walkthrough

© 1998-2024 Universal Hint System. Hints on this site may be copyright by their respective authors, as noted within each hint set. View our full site

Captive curse walkthrough

Junior Mode: The leftmost monster in the bottom row, and the second-from-the-right in the top row. He forces Nancy to solve a matching puzzle first. Press the doorbell on the right, and Lukas answers the door. The game begins with Nancy Drew arriving at Castle Finster. A video of a girl being attacked by a monster plays. 004-Walkthrough - Click on the plane ticket, choose either Junior or Senior Detective, and the game starts. She can call him in this game, and the two of them have a fight. His brother Joe gets mentioned, but he doesn't have any speaking lines. Frank Hardy: Nancy's friend and fellow detective. She worked with Anja, at Anja's previous job. She is the one who does most of the work in the castle. Anja: The castellan, who works at the gift shop. Renate: An old woman who is staying at the castle. Lukas: A boy whose father is the head of security. He is in charge of the castle, but he is more concerned with playing games than running the castle properly. 003-Characters - Nancy Drew: Our hero! She's a super mystery solver, and she's off to Germany to solve the mystery behind the monster sightings at Castle Finster. The video comes complete with my commentary and such. 002-Video Guide - Hey! Want to see how to beat the game instead of reading about it? Well, I've got a video walkthrough, and you can see it at. If you want to reproduce this guide in some fashion, you should contact me before doing so. If you want to contact me, e-mail but make the subject blank if you do. This is the twenty-fourth game in the Nancy Drew series. This is an adventure game, in which Nancy Drew goes to Germany and solves a mystery at a haunted castle. Credits 001-General Information - This is a walkthrough for the PC/Mac game called Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse. DDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDD DDDDDD DDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDDDD DD DDDDDDDDDDD DD DDDDDDDDDDDD DD DDDDDDDDDDDDD DD D DDDDDDDDDDD DD DDDDDDDDDDDD DD D DDDDDDDDDDD D DD DDDDDDDDDDDDD D D DDDDDDDDDDDDD D DDDDDDDDDDDDDD DD DDDDDDDDDDDDDD DD DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDDDDDDD DDD DDDD DDD DDDD DDDD DDDD DDD DDDD DDD DDD DD DDD DD DD D DD D D DD D DDD DD DD DD D DD D Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse A Walkthrough by Michael Gray AKA The Lost Gamer Copyright 2011 For a list of all my various guides, check Table of Contents: 001.

2. Investigate the Castle: Make your way to the castle and explore its various rooms to search for clues and solve puzzles. Pay attention to the castle library, where you will find ancient texts and maps that may hold the key to the curse.

3. Solve the Puzzle Box: Discover a puzzle box in the castle and solve it to unveil a hidden passage leading to the caves. Use the clues found in the library to decipher the puzzle. 4. Explore the Caves: Enter the caves and navigate through their dark passages to find the missing girl. Be cautious and watch out for traps and obstacles along the way. Use any tools and items you find to overcome challenges. 5. Uncover the Truth: As you progress through the caves, uncover the truth behind the curse and the wolf haunting the village. Explore the hidden chambers and solve puzzles to reveal the secrets of the castle and its inhabitants. 6. Confront the Culprit: Eventually, you will confront the culprit responsible for the curse and the disappearances. Use your deductive skills and the evidence you have gathered to expose their true intentions and put an end to the curse. 7. Rescue the Captive: After confronting the culprit, locate and rescue the missing girl. Solve any remaining puzzles or challenges to ensure her safe return to the village. 8. Resolve the Curse: With the missing girl rescued, work with the villagers to lift the curse that has been plaguing the village for centuries. Follow any rituals or instructions provided to bring an end to the curse once and for all. By following this walkthrough, players can navigate through the challenges and puzzles of "Captive Curse" to solve the mystery and save the village from the curse's grip..

Reviews for "Getting Unstuck in the Captive Curse: A Helpful Walkthrough"

1. Jane - 2 stars - I found the "Captive Curse Walkthrough" to be quite underwhelming. The game lacked depth and the puzzles were overly simplistic. Additionally, the storyline felt forced and predictable, leaving me feeling uninspired and unengaged. Overall, I was disappointed with the game and would not recommend it to others looking for a truly immersive and challenging mystery experience.

2. Mark - 1 star - I cannot express my disappointment enough with the "Captive Curse Walkthrough". The game was riddled with technical glitches and bugs, making it nearly unplayable at times. The graphics were subpar, and the characters' movements were stiff and unnatural. It's hard to believe this game was released with such poor quality control. Save your money and find a better game to invest your time in.

3. Sarah - 2 stars - As a long-time fan of the Nancy Drew series, I was excited to try the "Captive Curse Walkthrough". However, the game fell short of my expectations. The puzzles lacked originality and were often mere repetitions of previous games. The dialogue and voice acting also left much to be desired, with flat delivery and uninteresting conversations. Overall, it felt like a rushed and uninspired addition to the series, and I would not recommend it to fellow Nancy Drew fans.

4. Alex - 3 stars - While the "Captive Curse Walkthrough" had some redeeming qualities, overall, it fell short of being an engaging and immersive gaming experience. The storyline had potential but lacked depth and failed to keep me invested in the characters' fates. Additionally, the puzzles seemed overly simplistic and failed to provide a satisfying challenge. If you're a die-hard Nancy Drew fan, you may find some enjoyment in this game, but casual players may want to pass on this one.

The Captive Curse: A Strategy Guide for Success