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.

This is an interactive novel by John Buchan. I would describe it as a mixture of reading a book and listening to a number of conversations. There is NOT much gameplay envolved, except clicking a few items here and there, and to draw some patterns. The story is about Richard Hannay and his escape from London. Many things happens along the way, and this is where the story shines. Its a little bit hard to understand what some scottish and english people are saying due to dialects and use of old words.

If you enjoy reading books and you want a good story, without gameplay getting in your way, this is a great game. If you like other "non-games" like Dear Easter, Proteus or Gone Home this might be the right experience for you as well.

Many others will however HATE this, because they will not see it as a game. Other people in my age will also dislike this game because they thing reading is boring, and games without gameplay is a waste of time.

I really liked this visual novel and its story, and the art is absolutely fantastic. The voice acting is top-notch and also the music. The developers obviously put a lot of time and efford into this project and therefore it earns my recommendation.

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.

The 39 Steps is a digital adaption of a John Buchan's espionage thriller.
And since I don't want to spoil the story for anyone still waiting to enjoy it, I won't reveal any story details.
But I will say this, the story is brilliant and has a lot of twists and turns and will keep you hooked till the end. At least that's how I've felt.
The art in the game is absolutely gorgeous and the sound design is spot on as well. This is like reading a book, but you interact ingame with a mouse at certain situations and click objects on screen such as newspapers or items of interest. There are also times where you have to imitate real movements with a mouse ( sort of like in Fahrenheit / Indigo Prophecy if you have played that game).
There are also cards to collect and awards to unlock while playing the game, which is a nice touch for all those people like myself who enjoy collecting things.
All in all:

+ Great story
+ Beautiful art design
+ Good sound effects and acting

- If you dont like reading a lot, this game is not for you

If you are looking for a great thriller story accompanied by great art design and acting, you are going to enjoy this game. 9 / 10

The Thirthy-Nine Steps is one of the earliest and arguably most influential novel in the history of espionage thriller. The book by John Buchan, published in 1915, is now public domain which means the devs could get away with anything in this digital adaption. But what surprised me is they were extremely loyal to the plot. This digital adaption is even told in 1st person like the original work. They did not offer any changes, which can be termed as lazy. But a novel that doesn't need change shouldn't be changed anyway. Voice acting is good. Story-telling is done right. The only thing that bugged me is the lack of character "appearance" in the artwork. But that's not a big deal. Anyway, this is a good digital adaption of the novel and I highly recommend it.

Warning - Do not buy if you're looking for a game. This is NOT a game, not even a point and click game. This is basically a audio novel with some relevant artwork.

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