Take it: If you love your games oozing with charm and if you like quirky two-player physics puzzles.
Leave it: If you want your games to have more substance.

We undertook our journey of 39 days because we were intrigued by the style and voice acting, and because the explicit design for two players was something we were looking for.
The game is charming and well made, with puzzle heavily relying on both players cooperating, sometimes in symmetrical roles, sometimes asymmetrically.
The game is all it promises to be, among which is "short", so we completed our journey and had a final cuppa about 2 hours later. It's on the brink of being overpriced for such a short game, and this is why I don't recommend it. However, there is fun to be had here if you have some bucks to spare.

39 Days to Mars is an interesting game. It's interesting in a good way. The game is designed and recommended to be played with another person in couch co-op mode. But it is also playable in single player mode.

I played two runs on solo mode, and it was doable with keyboard and mouse. I tried with a controller to begin with, but I could not coordinate my hands well enough to do anything effectively. I did manage to solve all puzzles and do pretty much all that needs to be done with a keyboard and mouse, most of the gameplay was done by the mouse.

Let us look at the good things this game has to offer, it has pleasant music, wonderful hand-drawn art, neat design, funny story, with different pathways to the ending, and a few short puzzles that need to be solved along the way. I love the designs of the puzzles as well, they really speak of a lot of creativity behind the designs. The small amounts of commentary is witty and always made me smile.

On replaying, the spacecraft, if it can be called that, is layed out differently. This is supposed to offer some replay value, but the puzzles are essentially the same every time, and the functionality of each room is preserved, so this randomization does not really add to the game play, but it's nice that there is some variability.

The asking price of $15 is a bit steep, as this game is so incredibly short. Less than an hour for a normal run through.

If you are into getting all of the achievements, this might be a bit of a hassel, not sure if you want to play through this game again and again to do that. You need at least 8 runs to get all achievements, and that might be a stretch, even for a shorter game. There are speedrun achievements, but with RNG elements that may cause significant time delays, I am not sure how realistic this is.

If you have someone to play co-op with, this is a wonderful little game that you may wish to revisit from time to time.

Overall, good game, wonderful design, it is clear that a lot of thought and attention was put into making of this game. I recommend that if it is on sale, you grab a copy for yourself to try out. Keep in mind that the controls are rather finicky and may not be suitable for everyone. If you have someone to play with in co-op design, this game is probably a lot smoother and more pleasant.

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I'm going to be short and blunt with my review. I bought this game looking for a game my partner and I could play together. This game accomplished that with an unexpected amount of charm, wit, and humor. $15.00 might seem high priced for the length of the game, we were able to beat it in about 1.5 hrs, but the fantastic evening we had was more then worth it. If you are on the fence about it consider that you could spend a fun evening with someone playing this game for $15 or going to the movies for close to $30.

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ABOUT THIS GAME

39 Days to Mars is a game which understands the true meaning of co-op tag. You and your mate will have to figure out charming puzzles ending the most of times into hilarious misunderstandings.

It's $10 for ~2hrs of not best coop gameplay. Meaning, this game has only 6 or 7 different puzzles/activities, and you will repeat them again in again. It feels more like a proof-of-concept rather than a finished game.

Fun game and the fact that it's completely voice acted really carries it.
I really got a kick out of the wonderful artwork.
A lot of fun solving the puzzles with a partner as the single player controls could be done a bit better.
I really enjoyed the puzzles and the storyline is nice as well. Just know that if you watch a walkthrough you'll be done probably quicker. I never understood why anyone would want to see someone else solve a puzzle anyway.

I really cant stress enough it's really important to play 39 Days to Mars with another person.

Full review found at: https://thegamehoard.com/2019/03/19/39-days-to-mars-pc/

There are plenty of aesthetic details to like about 39 Days to Mars. Its cartoonish depiction of Victorian-era British gentlemen and a charmingly unrealistic tale of space travel makes for a fine framework to a game to enjoy with a friend, but the tasks you must complete together aren’t always up to snuff. There are some decent ones focused on aliens and machines to be sure, but then there are some that barely require your partner and others that require you both to work together on less than thrilling tasks like awkwardly rotating paper together. The constant breaks to make tea and scones are what push this game away from simple co-op fun though, as they crop up so often that it weakens the game’s flow with repetition and makes it easy to resent the old-timey aesthetic that had otherwise mostly enhanced the game.

Even when working with a perfectly cooperative partner or just being good with both of your hands, some of the puzzles in 39 Days to Mars just don’t have much going for them. There’s a little room for some funny failure in certain games, but for the most part the tasks are often fairly simple when they’re good but bothersome when they’re relying on weaker gameplay styles. Awkwardness is the name of the game in a lot of the tasks that require good co-op to complete, and these tasks use awkwardness to make up for their minimal level of challenge. Perhaps the biggest reason tea and scones grow so stale on repeat visits is it is not very stimulating mentally. You have the list of what you need to do, the execution just involves dragging around a jar of jam awkwardly or trying to use a knife together with another person to put butter on the scone. Ultimately, the more well thought out puzzles are often ones that could be solved by a single player, the middle of the road ones are decent but too simple, and then the weakest ones rely on cooperation that is more obtuse than it is interesting.

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Pros:

+ Interesting and unique visual design
+ Very sweet and kind atmosphere
+ Simply amazing sense of British humor
+ It was meant to be played with your buddy and this is amazing, since cooperating is really important here and will bring you lots of fun and laughs during your gameplay
+ Casual and creative puzzles
+ Steampunk look and feel
+ Relaxing piano music on the background

Cons:

- It’s awfully short! You can finish it in just two hours or even less
- A bit tedious process of tasks to complete
- While developers state, that this game can be played solo as well as with a buddy, keep in mind that it will be much harder, because you will need to hit all the buttons, that was intended to be pressed by your buddy


39 Days To Mars is a game that has to put a smile on your face. It’s a gorgeous co-op adventure, set in the 19th century steampunk era in England, telling us a story about two explorers Sir Albert Wickes and The Right Honourable Clarence Baxter, who decided to leave this planet behind and travel to Mars on their big self-made HMS Fearful ship.

From the first seconds of the game, you understand that you deal with a completely funny and charming game, full of intelligent and kind humor. Even the company’s name It’s Anecdotal tells us so. Our heroes are true Englishmen with a manners and the ones who respect every single tradition of their country. So, it doesn’t matter what kind of problem they are going to deal with - tradition should never be broken and when the clock hits 5pm, they know for sure: it’s a teatime!

Cups of tea play an important role in explorer’s lifes and in 39 Days To Mars. Same as scones, they have to be prepared at the certain time no matter what. But what’s more important is that it has to be perfect and our heroes remind us about it literally all the time during the game.


First of all, it’s important to state, that this game is better when played in co-op with a buddy of yours on the couch. If you will decide to play it in a solo mode like I did, be prepared to struggle a bit, at least at the beginning, until you get used to the controls.

Our protagonist grabs his friend or cat, depends on either you play in co-op or solo respectively. Preparation for the journey will not take long and its main purpose is to introduce you to the basics and the controls of the game. Usually all these puzzles are about making some actions at the same time, like pushing buttons or connecting little pieces with each other. Don’t forget that you play as a true Englishman, so this “preparation” is not so serious as you might thought before - you will need to find a true attributes of the real person, who was born and raised in this beautiful country, like a long hat and umbrella.

But the main fun begins when you step on the ship. Here you will find everything what a gentleman will need on his way to Mars - kitchen with a teapot, stove to cook perfect scones and of course, cozy library to use it every time you need some sort of an information. There are also a lot of different rooms and the trick is that all of them need a maintenance all the time. Everytime something happens, our protagonist says that first things first, so before starting to fix them, you have to make a “good cuppa”.

And it’s really interesting how they managed to design this whole process of making a tea. You see a list of requirements on the screen, like, for example it has to be hot, sweet and milky and during this puzzle you have to add all these ingredients in your cup and make a perfect drink. Next time, our sir will be in a completely different mood and you will need to make something new for him. After his drink is ready he will move on to his task on fixing another device.

Fixing puzzles are way more trickier than making a cups of tea. Here you will end up with matching mini games, pairing objects, cutting off redundant stuff or building a pathway mechanics. Most of these activities should be done at the same time, so these actions require a coordinated effort and that’s the main reason why it is much funnier to play with your buddy and a bit harder to play solo. Although not being that challenging, all these puzzles are greatly designed and fun to solve.

And after 10-15 minutes of playing 39 days to Mars, you understand that this is pretty much it and there is nothing more, what game can offer you in terms of gameplay. Make tea, cook some scones, fix all the issues on the ship and watch the calendar on the upper left corner of the screen, showing you how much time is left before landing on Mars.


Graphics are pretty much simple in 39 Days to Mars and this is what makes that game so lovely and charming. It’s one of this rare occasions when developers show us that it’s much more important to create the right and pleasant atmosphere, rather than spending millions dollars on creating something ultra special and it really works here. Here you will see nothing more than a crafted brown paper with a hand drawn ink illustration on it and it looks great, reminding you of Victorian artist’s blueprints.


If you prefer the relaxing piano music on the background, you will definitely love the sound of 39 Days to Mars. And what is really cool about it is that this music perfectly works with the whole vibes of the game and it doesn’t feel out of place at all. Piano sounds are calm and easy most of the time, but when it comes to showing us some dramatic or danger moments, it spices up a bit with a more higher tones.


39 Days to Mars is just another good experience for one night, to spend it, preferably, with your buddy or alone, if the circumstances don’t allow you to enjoy it with someone else. The whole gameplay process can become a bit tedious and repetitive pretty much fast, but the game is really short and it can be completed in a less than two hours, so you won’t be bored that much at all.

I would say that this little gem will perfectly fit someone who cares about cute and kind atmosphere in games and looking for an easy game just to sit back and relax after a hard work day, enjoying casual puzzles and smart British jokes. Simply perfect add for the indie lovers into their collection!

Enjoy!

The Chinese translation is very misleading.

I saw there was another player talking about the translation issue in Chinese version. The developer changed '重新开始单人之旅', which means 'restart single-player game' to '继续单人之旅', which means 'resume single-player game' in the main menu. Unfortunately, the developer only changed the translation for single-player mode. When I exit and re-entered the game, I saw '重新开始合作模式', which means 'restart co-op game', so I hit '合作模式', which means 'co-op mode' in Chinese. As you can expect, all the records were erased and the game started all over. From what I see in the comments, it's not the first time this kind of translation problem occurs, but obviously the developer doesn't care.

If the developer is not paying attention to its users, I am not paying for the game either. I shouldn't waste my time to play the same game all over again just because of the developer's negligence.

I was going to give an amazing review on the gameplay, graphics, and humor until we reached the gardening game. What should have been a 5 min puzzle ended up taking over an hour to complete. The instructions were not clear at all and the controls made it impossible to complete. On top of every game having you make a cup of tea or scone it gets old very fast. If it was something new everytime it would be funny, but you have to play the same unfun mini game every time y before you play the real game. I had a lot of fun until this point, that was just to frustrating for any game. Bad controls plus confusing instructions are NOT fun to play.