The following is a transcript of the teaser trailer audio, as spoken by Nancy: The game would have followed Nancy Drew aboard a haunted cruise ship. Since 2011, then-Her Interactive marketing coordinator Little Jackalope has confirmed in a few comments on the company's Amateur Sleuth Blog that there are no plans to continue working on Ship of Shadows.
According to Moulder, fans of the Nancy Drew Adventure series "didn’t feel that the Dossier line met their expectations." He went on to say that "if we were to try our hand again at a Dossier game or something like it, we will need to figure out how to ensure that any new game meets the expectations of our current fans." On October 14, 2011, then-Her Interactive CEO Stuart Moulder indicated during an interview with GameZebo that there were no plans to continue the Dossier series at the time. This unfortunately led to the removal of Ship of Shadows from the company's release schedule and the shelving of the Dossier series. Development of the game was further held up due to work on other projects, including the Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries series. According to Inter_Sleuth, Ship of Shadows was originally delayed in order to make the game "the best the series had to offer," in response to feedback from fans on the first two installments.
On March 15, 2011, then-Her Interactive Community Forums administrator Inter_Sleuth posted an announcement about the game on the "Notes from Her Interactive" message board. Although the teaser trailer did not include a release date, it is estimated that Ship of Shadows was going to be released in 2010 since one Dossier game had been released per year up to that point. Ship of Shadows was teased at the end of the second installment of the Dossier series, Resorting to Danger, which was released in 2009.