Nancy Drew: Secret of the Scarlet Hand
Secret of the Scarlet Hand is the sixth installment in the Nancy Drew point-and-click adventure game series by Her Interactive. The game is available for play on Microsoft Windows platforms. It has an ESRB rating of E for moments of mild violence and peril. Players take on the first-person view of fictional amateur sleuth Nancy Drew and must solve the mystery through interrogation of suspects, solving puzzles, and discovering clues. There are two levels of gameplay, including a Junior and Senior detective mode. Each mode offers a different difficulty level  of puzzles and hints, but neither of these changes affect the actual plot of the game. The game is loosely based on a book of the same name "The Secret of the Scarlet Hand" (1995). Plot. Nancy Drew lands an internship at the Beech Hill Museum in Washington D.C., which is devoted to Mayan culture and will soon be exhibiting a newly discovered monolith to the public. However, shortly before the exhibition opens, one of the museum's most treasured pieces is stolen from the museum, and the thief leaves behind a mysterious red hand print. Nancy must find the  stolen jade carving of Pacal and save Beech Hill from financial ruin. Critical reception. According to PC Data, "Secret of the Scarlet Hand" sold 50,195 retail copies in North America during 2003. In the United States, "Secret of the Scarlet Hand"s computer version sold between 100,000 and 300,000 units by August 2006. Combined sales of the "Nancy Drew" adventure game series reached 500,000 copies in North America by early 2003, and the computer entries reached 2.1 million sales in the United States alone by August 2006. Remarking upon this success, "Edge" called "Nancy Drew" a "powerful franchise". John Moran of  Lawrence Journal-World described the game, along with "" as "well designed, engrossing and fun", adding "the animation is quite striking [and] facial expressions, facial gestures, even voices are lifelike". However, it received a negative review from Charles Herold of "The New York Times". He wrote, "After three first-rate games, HerInteractive has stumbled, producing a game that is more concerned with trivia than puzzles."