Name: The 39 Steps

Publishers: Kiss

Developers: The Story Mechanics

Genres: Adventure, Casual, Indie

Platforms: Linux, PC, macOS

Released: 2013-04-25

The 39 Steps

The 39 Steps is a game, but at the same time a book. The basis of this synthetic work is the Scot John Buchan bestseller of the same name. This book has been screened many times. One of the adaptations was directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Genre and story

The game follows exactly the text of the book. The book is a thriller, in the subgenre "a man on the run." Events take place in London in the early twentieth century. The main character is accused of murder, which he did not commit, and he has very little time to prove his innocence and find a real killer. He escapes from the city, hides from the police and investigates this case.

Gameplay

The main guide in the game is text. Much is reported in the voiced dialogues, scraps of phonograms, letters, newspaper articles and even fragments of the chronicle. There are several mini-games, tasks, performed by mouse movements. In total there are 8 different storytelling mechanics in the game, 25 collectible items and 16 awards to be unlocked.

Music, sound, atmosphere

The game contains more than two hundred hand-drawn frames. A lot of carefully selected details are immersed in the atmosphere of time and books. Old newspapers, photos, things, masterfully selected sounds - about the sound in the game is to be said separately, this is a huge and important part of the atmosphere of the game. It is considered, it seems, all - the sounds of passing mashtins, nature, the rustle of pages and creaking of the drawers. The game has its own soundtrack, the music follows all events, creating the right depth and maintaining a sense of total immersion. Dialogues are voiced by professional actors.