Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy

The competition for Valedictorian of the graduating class at Waverly Academy is fierce and has become ugly recently. Some girls have had pranks played on them and there have been some unexplained, life-threatening accidents, all accompanied by a curse note from the "Black Cat." It appears that one of the top contenders will go to extreme lengths to eliminate anyone who stands in her way. It could be that someone else altogether is behind it, but who? This is what Nancy Drew intends to find out. She goes under cover as Becca, a student at the school, to investigate.

Nancy must conform to the rules of the school, like any student. She receives good points for doing things well and demerits when she doesn't. As the "new girl" on campus, Nancy's first objective is to make friends with the suspects so she can ask them about what's been going on. This is not an easy task, since gossip and lies abound and many of them are uncooperative and secretive. To gain their friendship and trust, and to unearth the truth, she will be at their beck and call, helping them with homework or running errands.

Nancy has a cellphone in this game, a new feature, which she uses as a journal, to take pictures and set an alarm clock for switching between day and night. Also new is a Sneak mode, helpful when snooping around and trying to avoid detection by teachers, other students, and the hall monitors. There are mini-games and arcade-like games to be played in connection with various aspects of the story. Solving these many times provides important clues.

Gameplay is point-and-click in 1st person, as is typical for the series. There are two difficulty modes: Junior and Senior Detective.

Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy is the 21st game in the series and is based on the book Nancy Drew: The Curse of the Black Cat by Carolyn Keene (last published in 2001).