This is a Visual Novel. That means there are no real puzzles, no real gameplay, and it is just the story. If you like point and click adventure games, a visual novel isn't a big step backwards from that sort of thing. You just don't get the puzzles that come along with the adventure genre. So when you want a totally relaxing time of just visualizing a story a graphic novel will succeed in doing that without making you have to think much about solving any puzzles. The 39 Steps is probably one of, if not the best visual novels I have ever played. It adds a lot of extra background and lore to explore within this as well that most visual novels don't contain.

The 39 Steps is a classic thriller novel that has been adapted to this medium in such a way that it feels like a big time studio was behind it rather than an Indie team. This political thriller takes place in Europe, mostly in England and Scotland, You are a man that stumbles into a bit of a political conspiracy by chance, which forces you to eventually run for your life and solve the mystery before your life is ruined.

The quality of the artwork is superb. The menus and user interface are clean and slick. There are no bugs, no glitches, and everything is done in a professional way. You can "add a bookmark" at any place in the story to the point that you can do this after every line of text presented. Making it simple to navigate back to where you were. The story is also broken up into about 20 segments so you should never find yourself lost along the way. You can have 3 profiles as well. I think it would be difficult to play this without feeling like this is how a visual novel SHOULD be done. It is as good as it gets for this genre. Adventure fans not familiar with the visual novel genre may just find that this will convince them to try more due to how well made it was.

It has hand painted watercolor artwork that looks extremely realistic, and is a wonder to gaze upon. You feel like you are inside the rooms the story brings you to, the landscapes outdoors that you are stomping through, and they are so well done that you may even feel the sun shining down upon you while you are lying in a field trying to hide from your pursuers. Behind all these backdrops are well placed sound effects to give the right atmosphere. Things like horse's hooves clacking away, the coughs of patrons in a restaurant, and the footsteps of a cobblestone street. Combine that with a perfectly toned musical score to crank up the tension when it is needed, or simply set the stage for some mystery, all aspects of a well done story are in place from a technical standpoint.

The game is mostly done in written text, as all visual novels are, but there are many scenes of the story that give us voice acting. The voice acting is professional. Believable for all times voices are used, accents feel genuine, and the characters all give the right inflections for the tone they are trying to convey. It is some of the best voice work I have heard in a game, and spectacular considering that it is an Indie title.

Besides the voice acting, there are even a few video scenes done in that old time English cartoon way of film and presented in the silent film format. The solid black characters on solid colored backgrounds riding a horse and carriage, or an old Model-T, where you only see the whites of their eyes and teeth. Showing stories being told as they take a trip from one area to another as they are recounted to other characters. There are 3-4 of these and they are an amusing break from the reading. Between these and the voice additions you feel like you get to take some breaks from just reading quite often.

Besides the presentation being top notch, The 39 Steps has an interesting view into the time period in which this novel takes places (1910's). You are able to click on scenes that give you closer looks at objects where you can read letters, look at objects more closely to give you the more intricate details of their design, and most importantly you can read several newspapers from the time period. These newspapers aren't all fictional either. The relevant articles for the story purposes are highlighted, and can be read from an easier view text form, but there are dozens of interesting historical stories and advertisements from the historical time period. You can find articles on politics, the era's fascination with the new flying “aeroplanes”, and I even spotted an article talking about the aftermath of The Titanic in which passengers had taken them to court trying to retrieve lost belongings from America.

The 39 Steps offers an intriguing tale in a visual novel format. Professionally made, great design, and quite satisfying. Achievements are simple to get as they are given by following along with the story so it is an easy 100% game. I would recommend this to any adventure fan looking for a casual story experience. I believe you could finish this game in a few hours (My playtime is way off it didn't take nearly that long). Possibly around 5 hours or so if you spend any time reading the many newspaper articles that are presented for you to browse. Hopefully this group makes more classic adventure titles in this format because they have done a superb job with this one!

NOTE: I had never read this novel before playing the game so I cannot tell you how much you might enjoy it if you have. I enjoyed it immensely having not read the book prior to playing the game. I can only assume it would be less enjoyable to someone that has already read the source material beforehand, as it is to me almost every time I watch a film after reading the book first. ;)

Original example of how a novel can be transformed into a game

The 39 Steps is a unique interactive visual novel, developed by The Story Mechanics and first released on Steam in april 2013. The game is based on the novel with the same title by John Buchan, which got quite well-known thanks to its being the inspiration for Ian Flemmings James Bond books. The novel tels the story of Richard Hannay, a bored-to-death gentleman who all of a sudden finds himself in the eye of an espionage storm. Buchans story has its flaws: some plot-turns come across as unbelievable, but the characters are drawn very fine indeed, as is the time period against which the plot evolves.

Buchans novel is followed very closely in the game, which does an excellent job in transferring the overall feel and atmosphere of the period and place during which the action takes place: London, Scotland and the English countryside early summer 1914, just before the outbreak of the First World War. The developers achieved this by using a brilliantly designed and executed visual style, with a lot of hand-drawn images.

Actually, the story is told in several different ways, all with their own level of interaction. The narrative part of the novel is being projected on the screen, with the player having to click through the different lines. But the game manages to introduce variety even in this simple mechanic: the tempo of the clicking varies: sometimes a screen is held onto longer, while at other times clicks has to done much faster. Dialogues are being voice-acted in a very convincing way, some self-contained stories are even being projected as short movies. There is some point-and-clicking too, although this is allways clearly indicated and not designed as a challenge or puzzle. All in all, the variety in interaction between player and game helps a lot to draw one into the story.

The awesome visuals and interesting storytelling are accompanied by a soundscape that mostly stays in the background, punctuating some important actions without drawing any attention to itself. A bit more of these, and a more convincing musical envelopment would have painted the period even better I believe. But this is only a minor quibble. More problematic are the click-and-drag actions one has to perform to unlock doors or achieve other minor tasks. These feel tucked on, and do not integrate well within the overall concept.

Highly recommended to anyone interested in visual novels, in literature or in artistic games in general. It's a real shame this development studio hasn't released any more games yet.

The 39 Steps is (as most have previously stated) an interactive novel, and NOT a game. There are some elements of interactivity in the form of mouse clicks and even "drawing" patterns with the mouse from time to time, but that's about it. That said, if you know going in you're going to read and occasionally watch/listen to a story, you shouldn't be disappointed.

For the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the story. I would sit down and play one of the 20 or so "chapters" at a time. Having them broken down into 10-15 minute chunks like this helped and allowed me to play at my own pace. The art is very well done, though there is really no actual animation. The voice acting is well done and the ambient sounds and music are a plus.

Being that the story is set prior to WWI (and that I'm American and this is set in the U.K.), some of the dialects and terminology were a bit tricky to follow, but not so much that it detracted form the story itself. Other than that, my only real complaint is that the ending seems somewhat . . . abrupt. I certainly won't spoil anything, but I felt that another couple minutes of gametime could have wrapped it up a little better.

All-in-all, the playthrough was an enjoyable experience and I'm looking forward to The Story Mechanic's next project.

My personal rating for what it is: 7.5/10

“I believe everything out of the common. The only thing to distrust is the normal.” ― John Buchan, The 39 Steps

The Thirty-Nine Steps is originally an adventure novel and an ancestor of the spy thriller genre, written by the Scottish author John Buchan in 1915 - the first year of the World War I. It has long been reinterpreted into various other media - including Alfred Hitchcock's famous 1935 silver screen interpretation. But it is the first time we see Buchan's famous action-hero, Richard Hannay in a video game, thanks to Story Mechanics' initiative with a project of reinterpreting literature as narrative video games.

Here at the start of his adventures, Richard Hannay is a wealthy and able English gentleman with considerable social standing. He was raised in South Africa, became a successful mining engineer and took part in the Matabele Wars. He also served as an intelligence officer during the Boer War. He is realistic, self-sufficient with a diverse set of skills and means. Just before the events of the game, Hannay returns to London, only to find the routine life of a Londoner to be devastatingly boring. Just as he was about to give up on the capital, he is visited by one of his neighbors at his apartment in London. The neighbor reveals himself to be Franklin P. Scudder, a freelance spy and asks Hannay's help with a dangerous political plot. Finding himself in a web of lies and intrigue, Hannay quickly becomes the target of a manhunt, and starts his escape towards the Highlands of Scotland. Will he ever be able to clean his name and prevent a dangerous plot that would spell doom for all Europe?

The 39 Steps is a retelling of the original novel without nearly any content cut down. The atmosphere is a wondrous success weaved out of water color environments, characters displayed as foggy silhouettes and tales that belong to characters reenacted by shadowy silent motion pictures. The display is wholly elegant and thrilling, appropriate for the tone of the narration. Voice acting is marvelous - with nuances, accents and even vocal exclamations. For the part of the presentation, you are in for a feast.

As for the gameplay, on the other hand, the same cannot be said. Yes, the game is basically a visual novel but the player's participation in the narration is close to non-existent. The game could even be categorized as non-interactive considering all you actually do is some clicking to do to reveal environmental details or some mouse movements to draw certain shapes for Hannay to interact with things now and then. There is nothing you actually do, decide or participate in. You click and watch as the story unravels. On that part, one could actually prefer reading the novel rather than playing the game, but the amount of labor put into display is certainly admirable.

For the last verdict, I'll bite and recommend The 39 Steps, considering newer generations prefer watching the story through a screen rather than actually reading it. You just have to know what you are getting yourselves into before buying it. The 39 Steps is not a game; it is a beautifully arranged digital story book, and one that I can safely recommend if you are unfamiliar with the novel and/or bear no intention of reading it.

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The 39 Steps leads you on a journey through lush hand-painted backgrounds, moody music, and excellent voice-acting. You are Richard Hannay, a well-to-do British gent living a boring life in London in 1914.

Calling 39 Steps a game seems to be doing it a disservice, as it is more of a interactive story that just has you along for the ride. There are points in the story where you 'control' the protoganists action, but you have no real power to affect the momentum of the narrative. The story is gripping, though, and these attempts to insert a more direct hand in the game are infrequent.

I have never read the source material, so cannot say how well it holds up to the original. The 39 Steps stands well enough on its own, though.

Achievement hunters interested in 100% games will find this one easy to complete, as achievements are awarded through story progression and are impossible to miss. I'd recommend not reading the achievement list before you start the story, though, as they could spoil some future events.

So, if spy thrillers are your thing, grab up your pipe and your brandy and dive into this one.

One thing that I love about video games is how they can take a story I've already heard several ways, and turn it into an entirely new experience that's just as engaging as if I was hearing it for the first time. The 39 Steps by The Story Mechanics is the first in what they call "digital adaptations", which fall somewhere between a visual novel and a radio show. The idea if simple, but the execution highly stylized and the pacing tightly wound to make what could have been a dry collection of text a surprisingly compelling and intense narrative piece.

I shouldn't have to tell you what The 39 Steps is about (as I imagine most should be familiar with the classic novel and numerous film adaptions and spin-offs), but as a refresher it follows Scottish man Richard Hannay, recently retired and now lost in a series of humdrum days and occurrences. All of this changes when a stranger barges into his life and revels a German plot that if carried out could throw the world into a war the likes of which it had yet seen. Shortly thereafter the man, now revealed to a spy known as Scudder, is found dead in Hannay's apartment, leaving him the only one alive with the knowledge of what is soon to unfold, and the only person who could possibly prevent it.

While the narrative of The 39 Steps is as intriguing and thrilling as ever, it's the way that it's told in this instance that makes it worth revisiting (or checking out for the first time) as opposed to numerous other formats you could choose. The Story Mechanics haven't settled for a simple text format in retelling Josh Buschan's tale, instead using a collection of visual tricks and clever insertion of backstory to create an brilliant interactive story that far exceeds the simplistic adaptations that have been experimented with in the past. Fantastic use of camera angles, deliberate placement of text to draw your eye toward parts of the watercolor backgrounds, and excellent voice acting from all parties make it incredibly easy to get swept away in the plot even during the slower, some may even call mundane, moments.

The only real instances where The 39 Steps falls a tad flat are the awkwardly implemented gestures that sometimes accompany moments like opening doors or reading letters. They were obviously intended to make the game feel more like, well, a game, but they're shoehorned in in such a way that feels tacked on an unnecessary. Thankfully they're infrequent enough that they never amount to more than a bit of a bother nor take but a few seconds to complete.

Though some might scoff at the emphasis on exposition and almost complete lack of traditional gameplay, those that can appreciate The 39 Steps for the bit of interactive fiction it is will be rewarded with an exciting and wonderfully paced tale of spies, murder, and more than a few close shaves. Having no real idea what to expect, I was very pleasantly surprised with the end result of The Story Mechanics's first attempt at a "digital adaptation", and it has gotten my mind spinning thinking of so many other books I'd love to see turned into future games. Hopefully this is only the first to come.

You can read more of my writing on Kritiqal[kritiqal.com].

When playing The 39 Steps, you might catch yourself thinking, “meh, I’ve seen this all before.” But just bear in mind that this is one of, if not, THE first. Some would argue that the one man vs everyone on the run genre from Mission Impossible, the Bournes, North by Northwest, The Fugitive, Minority Report, etc was hatched from Buchan’s novel that this game is based on.
Now I use game in a very loose way here. This is a visual novel you can drink a cup of tea in one hand while you advance the scenes with your other. There are a few quite silly QTEs but mostly you will just be taking in the beautiful artwork and following the voiced conversations and reading the occasional newspaper or scrap of paper. The story is the real reason we are here and the game is just a vehicle for that.

+ authentic. Whatever faults you find with this game, you cannot fault them for authenticity. This game is a direct lift from the book unlike the multiple movies that have been shot. Also the voice acting is incredibly real. Real enough to the point that you will need subtitles if you are not from Scotland. I’m from Scotland and there were even points where I had to tilt my ear to the speaker and pay full attention.

+ artwork. There are so many beautiful backdrops in the game. Nothing in the game is animated to move but the artists have really put it all into gorgeous natural vistas. I took a fair amount of screenshots.

+ voice acting. As noted above the voices are very authentic but not only that, they are well acted too. Hannay our main protagonist is a suave citizen with a knack for espionage and assumes the identities of a bunch of different walks of life in his efforts to evade his pursuers. Other characters in the game are equally voiced and this made the game way more enjoyable than me just clicking through walls of text.

- convenience. Now, I did say before that The 39 Steps was the genesis of this genre but at the same time I need to call out the plot for its hugely convenient moments where things just seem to fall out of the sky for the main character. In a bit of a pickle? Don’t worry, here is a case of dynamite. Need a quick alibi? Don’t worry you just made a new friend who will cover for you. There are plenty more examples of this but it would be anachronistic of me to fault the story. I imagine this was totally fine back in the day.

- oh, about those QTEs. They are not even Quick….or even Timed. That makes them just, I don’t know, E’s. I do not need a QTE to make a cup of coffee or to get dressed. It’s almost like the devs said, “There’s no game here. It’s just a story you click through. Shall we just add a dozen random QTEs?”

The 39 Steps is a great story to mouse over while you unwind at the end of the day and don’t want to think or move too much. It is an easy 100% cheevo too if that’s your thing. If you liked this game then Simon Meek went on to form his own studio The Secret Experiment after this and they released a game called Beckett, which I already own but haven’t played yet. So I suppose I know what I will be trying next.

The 39 steps is more like a story telling novell than a game. It let you decide about the flow of the story a few times. The story isnt bad, but it dont worth 9.99 i think, if its on sale then yes, worth the 4-5hours entertainment.

Its hard to review a novell without spoilers, but lets see what i can tell about it:
Our hero is framed for a murder so he need escape and solve the case to prove his innocence. The story involve murder, drama, treachery! All these mixed with suitable music, realistic sound effects, decent voice acting and nice artwork.

As your Average Achievement Hunter ill write some infos about achievements aswell:
This game got 20 unlockable steam achievements. Except one awarded for the story, for visitinng alternate story lines but as you can choise story "steps" its not hard to get the missed ones. You also need watch credits at the end of the game to unlock extra scene for the last achievement.

ACHIEVEMENTS WORKS ONLY ON WINDOWS VERSION!

Looking through a lot of the reviews I think a lot of the people who left negative reviews just aren't into visual novels and maybe weren't aware of what they were when they got into this one. This isn't a typical point & click with puzzles to solve. It isn't a hidden object game or a choose your own adventure story. It is quite literally a novel that has been digitally enhanced with a bit of sound effects, artwork, voice acting, and maybe the occasional mouse "task" like moving it a certain direction or clicking in a certain place. It isn't meant to challenge you, just to engage you more deeply as you read a really great story.

Now for my review:

Pros:
This is the most brilliant way I have seen a visual novel presented so far. I really enjoyed this. I thought it was very well done actually. To other devs who are looking to do a visual novel or as this dev has coined it a "digital adaptation" of thier novel or story, get this and learn from it. This is how you do it right. The art was beautifully done as was the voice acting. There was just enough movement and visualization to not take away from the text, and it wasn't just the reader left clicking endlessly through text like a lot of visual novels.

At first I was a bit annoyed by the rotation of the mouse to progress the text but once I got used to it I quite liked it. It added a movement and removed the constant drone of clicks from my reading the story. Also, I found that if it bothers you that much you can still click instead of rotate and it will progress you through the same way as if you had rotated, you're just not able to reverse this way.

The story itself kept me engaged. This is really going to be based on your personal taste. I love a good story about crime and espionage, if you need some romance and teen drama to keep you interested then this probably isn't the tale for you.

I was very thankful to be able to read what the voice actors were saying, even when we maybe shouldn't have needed to. Some of the words and phrases took me a minute to figure out because the dialects and accents were so strong, but they were very fitting to the story and it just made it work even better, so that isn't a complaint.

The artwork and visualization mixed with the sound effects were amazing. There was a point where I actually had to grab a blanket and cover up because the dreary London rain had made me chilly even though it's the dead of a hot muggy summer where I live. Really well done.

Cons:
In order to give some constructive criticism I will say that there are times in the story the voice acting echoes and glitches a bit, but other than that I completely enjoyed every moment of it.

I will say I think the price point is too high. This is probobly the best visual novel I've experiences so far, but the most I've ever paid for one was $5, this at full price is 3 times that. The right audience still might be willing to pay that much for this though...it is really well done. I'm not even sure where I got this from, I'm thinking it was in a bundle of keys I bought or possibly one I traded for in a group I'm in, but I know I would have never paid full price for it and that's a shame because I would have missed out on something awesome had it not come my way through a less expensive route. I would have never been able to justify the cost to myself though knowing the genre, even though it is one I enjoy, having not "played" it first.

Perhaps a visual novel is not my cup of tea as I find The 39 Steps rather boring. I'm a bookworm but I disliked how I can't bookmark the game progress at will, so have to re-watch cutscenes that can't be skipped. To avoid that, I finished one chapter at a time, often falling asleep or wishing I was playing other games in the process.

On a positive note, the art is gorgeous and the voice acting is good. The gameplay itself was quite dull though.