about as timeless as aesop's fables. plays like one of them, too
Booting up Myst 27 years later after it's release, it's still impressive how much mystique and allure it has.
It's age immediately shows, but once you get past it's early cd-rom origins, you will find yourself in its now emblematic otherwordly, alien and mysterious island.
The static nature of its gameplay, combined with the lack of living beings on the island ( besides the presence of live action clips of the previous inhabitants and their belongings and writing) and sparse ambient soundscape creates a very unique and zen like atmosphere that's hardly replicated on other games of it's genre, something that probably helped it standout so much at the time. The obtuse and illogical mechanisms, buttons and contraptions scattered across the world of Myst invite the player like a moth to fire, speaking to a inner part of human nature that wants to solve and make sense of things.
The brilliance of it's design is in how it has every solution and path available to you from the start, you just dont have the information and clues required to know that those solutions and paths are already in front of you. In a stroke of genius, the game even has the final solution in plain sight at the start of the game. Some of the puzzles are duds, and some of the puzzles are a bit too obtuse to be taken seriously. The story is barebones, and only there to serve as some form of goal. There is sometimes the sense that you are playing a tech demo for the almight CD-ROM.
But Myst is still a classic, and if you never have, you should visit it's island and see for yourself the power of human curiosity and stubborness, and how that alone is enough to create a world worth falling into.
It's age immediately shows, but once you get past it's early cd-rom origins, you will find yourself in its now emblematic otherwordly, alien and mysterious island.
The static nature of its gameplay, combined with the lack of living beings on the island ( besides the presence of live action clips of the previous inhabitants and their belongings and writing) and sparse ambient soundscape creates a very unique and zen like atmosphere that's hardly replicated on other games of it's genre, something that probably helped it standout so much at the time. The obtuse and illogical mechanisms, buttons and contraptions scattered across the world of Myst invite the player like a moth to fire, speaking to a inner part of human nature that wants to solve and make sense of things.
The brilliance of it's design is in how it has every solution and path available to you from the start, you just dont have the information and clues required to know that those solutions and paths are already in front of you. In a stroke of genius, the game even has the final solution in plain sight at the start of the game. Some of the puzzles are duds, and some of the puzzles are a bit too obtuse to be taken seriously. The story is barebones, and only there to serve as some form of goal. There is sometimes the sense that you are playing a tech demo for the almight CD-ROM.
But Myst is still a classic, and if you never have, you should visit it's island and see for yourself the power of human curiosity and stubborness, and how that alone is enough to create a world worth falling into.
yeahhh, but its not Pyst now is it?
fuck the full 3d remake, the pre-rendered visuals of the original are as awe-inspiring as they were on release.
Wonderful puzzle design, a world that is beyond enchanting, I am in love with this and am eager to continue with this series.
i cannot imagine playing this game in 1993 without a guide
Rush Limbaugh Understands.
An eternal classic thanks to its haunting atmosphere and otherworldly visuals. The FMV parts haven't aged well and some of the puzzles are a little frustrating, but it's worth slogging though.
Y'all Riven for Myst??????????
(i have never played this, listen to 8 bit book club it rules)
(i have never played this, listen to 8 bit book club it rules)
i bet this shit hit different in 1993
regardless it's still relatively cool, although the puzzles can be quite antiquated at times but it's so awesome when you figure one out its not really a huge deal and they kinda balance one another out. of note i did pull up a guide when i felt completely clueless but i tried to only use it when i was at an absolute brickwall and only to get over that one roadblock and then put it down right after. worldbuilding is dope and apparently the puzzles are a bit less obtuse in riven which definitely makes me look forward to that lol
regardless it's still relatively cool, although the puzzles can be quite antiquated at times but it's so awesome when you figure one out its not really a huge deal and they kinda balance one another out. of note i did pull up a guide when i felt completely clueless but i tried to only use it when i was at an absolute brickwall and only to get over that one roadblock and then put it down right after. worldbuilding is dope and apparently the puzzles are a bit less obtuse in riven which definitely makes me look forward to that lol
Its a piece of gaming history that was essential in inspiring later works, but judged by modern standards its largely been made obsolete.
And I'm not saying this in the sense that 'old is bad'. Tolkien is still one of the best fantasy writers despite decades of work in the genre. The plays of Ancient Greece still hold up despite millennia of works building off of them. Oftentimes, even while mediums grow and improve, the originals still have a quality to them that can ensure they're still worth visiting for reasons apart from their historical value.
Myst does not fall into that category. Its puzzles are incredibly obtuse and generally unenjoyable. Virtually all of them will be solved in one of two ways: either you've hit your head against the wall for long enough that you finally brute forced your way into a solution or you've solved it ages ago but need to keep trekking between various locations and getting precise inputs so that you can actually progress past the puzzle. The worlds themselves are the biggest draw, but even they feel uninteresting. Their nature as a platform to give you puzzles is obvious from the beginning and, while they have their visual appeal, its hardly anything special enough to make trudging through the puzzles actually worth it.
Ultimately, I just don't see the value in revisiting Myst anymore. By today's standards, what the game does well is hardly impressive and what it does poorly is egregious. Myst is still valuable from the perspective of a historian or anyone else interested in the evolution of gaming as a medium. But for a player? There just isn't enough good and far too much bad for this to be a worthwhile experience.
Riven is pretty good though. Play that instead.
And I'm not saying this in the sense that 'old is bad'. Tolkien is still one of the best fantasy writers despite decades of work in the genre. The plays of Ancient Greece still hold up despite millennia of works building off of them. Oftentimes, even while mediums grow and improve, the originals still have a quality to them that can ensure they're still worth visiting for reasons apart from their historical value.
Myst does not fall into that category. Its puzzles are incredibly obtuse and generally unenjoyable. Virtually all of them will be solved in one of two ways: either you've hit your head against the wall for long enough that you finally brute forced your way into a solution or you've solved it ages ago but need to keep trekking between various locations and getting precise inputs so that you can actually progress past the puzzle. The worlds themselves are the biggest draw, but even they feel uninteresting. Their nature as a platform to give you puzzles is obvious from the beginning and, while they have their visual appeal, its hardly anything special enough to make trudging through the puzzles actually worth it.
Ultimately, I just don't see the value in revisiting Myst anymore. By today's standards, what the game does well is hardly impressive and what it does poorly is egregious. Myst is still valuable from the perspective of a historian or anyone else interested in the evolution of gaming as a medium. But for a player? There just isn't enough good and far too much bad for this to be a worthwhile experience.
Riven is pretty good though. Play that instead.
The only thing more dangerous than a large adult failson is two large adult failsons
tried again on 6/1/22 (remastered), and abandoned quickly. just not for me.
Moral of the story: Don't read books
This review contains spoilers
POV: You are betrayed by your two large (and very evil!!) sons
cuando el 3d es tan viejo que da miedo.
logra crear una atmosfera de misterio con los pocos recursos que habia en la epoca, muy buena aventura grafica de puzzles pero si quieren terminarlo usen una guia
logra crear una atmosfera de misterio con los pocos recursos que habia en la epoca, muy buena aventura grafica de puzzles pero si quieren terminarlo usen una guia
the cave section is WACK!!!!
This is a game I really should replay more often. This is one of the few series where the puzzles are challenging each time I come back to the island. And the air of mystery and focus on books is a constant source of inspiration.
interesting little puzzle game
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It's been almost three decades since Myst's release and its world is somehow still just captivating. The bizarre mechanisms, aged artifacts and writings of those now gone both serve to create this sense of connection with another time, another place and the former inhabitants, whilst also emphasising how alone you are right now as you wander these abandoned and oftentimes silent lands, proceeding as an archaeologist of once magically conjured worlds.
As alluring as this sounds Myst is certainly far from perfect. The caves section was a wholly miserable low-point for me, sufficiently awful that I looked up a guide to save myself some pain, the 'good ending' I found fell flat on its face for me, and just generally a fair chunk of the puzzle-solving in Myst has been out-performed by time and those that would follow in its footsteps. Really Myst has aged substantially more than my rating for it necessarily indicates and that makes it hard for me to recommend as such, but the whole thing is just so fascinating to me, and whilst its age has led to some frustration in parts it also adds an almost meta element to playing it for the first time nowadays like the archaeological pursuits your character is engaging with in these mystical worlds are also being reflected in turn by you unearthing this old, time-worn game and trying to figure out what makes it tick.
As alluring as this sounds Myst is certainly far from perfect. The caves section was a wholly miserable low-point for me, sufficiently awful that I looked up a guide to save myself some pain, the 'good ending' I found fell flat on its face for me, and just generally a fair chunk of the puzzle-solving in Myst has been out-performed by time and those that would follow in its footsteps. Really Myst has aged substantially more than my rating for it necessarily indicates and that makes it hard for me to recommend as such, but the whole thing is just so fascinating to me, and whilst its age has led to some frustration in parts it also adds an almost meta element to playing it for the first time nowadays like the archaeological pursuits your character is engaging with in these mystical worlds are also being reflected in turn by you unearthing this old, time-worn game and trying to figure out what makes it tick.
Worldbuilding and immersion are top notch, but the outdated puzzle design holds it back from greatness.
Basically bought a PC for this and X-Wing, have not been outside since
How could I not rate this as a masterpiece? It's a classic.
It was another one of these games that my parents happened to have on their PC when I was growing up. As a six year old I would just wander around this 90's-CGI pre-rendered island not knowing what the hell any of it was or what was going on, just clicking things and seeing what happened.
A few years ago I downloaded it on my phone and played it properly. I got pretty close to the end and then just never got around to finishing it. Perhaps this game will always remain: a MYSTery to me
It was another one of these games that my parents happened to have on their PC when I was growing up. As a six year old I would just wander around this 90's-CGI pre-rendered island not knowing what the hell any of it was or what was going on, just clicking things and seeing what happened.
A few years ago I downloaded it on my phone and played it properly. I got pretty close to the end and then just never got around to finishing it. Perhaps this game will always remain: a MYSTery to me
This review contains spoilers
So good. Best puzzle game I've ever played, except maybe the sequel, Riven (mostly because of the tie-ins back to Myst).
This review contains spoilers
i'm glad i got to finally experience this classic, though it is definitely severely dated in many ways. my biggest issue really is the general navigation, which is very inconsistent and rough; i get the limitations of the time but man even just looking around the way you want or going in the direction you want is a major hassle sometimes. i also feel like the game would have benefitted significantly from even a tiny tutorial or introduction instead of just throwing you in with no context; i do like the natural discovery of various things but nothing really "clicked" until i had to look up hints and figured out what the actual goal was, and that just feels like bad design to me, especially when the majority of the story is shoved into one massive exposition dump that isn't technically even mandatory. just feels really sloppy in that regard. as for the puzzles themselves, i did enjoy a good portion of them; most of the ages were pretty decent but were dragged down by one or two nuisances. pretty much all of the "main island" puzzles i thought were good except for the elevator thing which still makes very little sense to me. the stoneship age was pretty good, but the hidden passageway was borderline impossible to find, even trying to click literally everywhere. the mechanical age was pretty basic, but it was very frustrating not being able to see how the tower is moving without tediously going back and forth and back and forth. the selenitic age is probably my favorite except for the maze, which isn't that hard to navigate but is sooooooo dang slow and mind-numbing. channelwood is probably my least favorite age, pretty much everything about it i disliked; navigating the paths was a total nightmare, which also made figuring out the puzzles that much more tedious, especially on the upper levels (i basically had to permanently cross-reference the map to get anywhere), and maybe i'm just dumb but it took me an incredibly long time to figure out that you had to close the door before using the elevators, which is honestly pretty dumb when every other elevator in the game does that part for you. ANYWAY it sounds like a lot of complaining but i did actually enjoy the game to some extent; mostly i look forward to playing the sequel(s) since this sets up a lot of potential and i've heard a number of times that riven is an improvement!!
myst gets a solid 5/10 from me, definitely not a bad game and very clear why it is a classic, but it had a few too many problems for me to give it much higher than that. i am hopeful that riven will blow that out of the water, though!
myst gets a solid 5/10 from me, definitely not a bad game and very clear why it is a classic, but it had a few too many problems for me to give it much higher than that. i am hopeful that riven will blow that out of the water, though!
Myst is a trip.
This game is like a puzzle box. You know, those wooden toys for 11-year-olds and grandpas that have some hidden trick to opening them. (Maybe that wide age appeal is how this ended up being the only game I ever beat with my parents) Except inside that puzzle box are five more boxes. And each of those smaller puzzle boxes is connected to even more puzzle boxes that are hidden in other rooms of your house. And half of THOSE puzzle boxes are only functional if you've got the right combination of puzzle boxes unlocked in the attic. And two distant relatives are both pressuring you via Skype about which puzzle boxes you need to be focused on unlocking, and you don't know who to trust because you're not even sure how you got in the house in the first place or how you're going to get out and if you even like these puzzle boxes and WHAT WAS ATRUS THINKING
This game is like a puzzle box. You know, those wooden toys for 11-year-olds and grandpas that have some hidden trick to opening them. (Maybe that wide age appeal is how this ended up being the only game I ever beat with my parents) Except inside that puzzle box are five more boxes. And each of those smaller puzzle boxes is connected to even more puzzle boxes that are hidden in other rooms of your house. And half of THOSE puzzle boxes are only functional if you've got the right combination of puzzle boxes unlocked in the attic. And two distant relatives are both pressuring you via Skype about which puzzle boxes you need to be focused on unlocking, and you don't know who to trust because you're not even sure how you got in the house in the first place or how you're going to get out and if you even like these puzzle boxes and WHAT WAS ATRUS THINKING
This will be graphics in 2013
I have mostly watched my mom played this as a kid. I got it for the Saturn, a couple of years back, and I've been meaning to play through it for myself still.
Was It Implied That There Were Bloodthirsty Monkeys or Did I Just Make That Up?
This game freaked the hell out of me when I was a kid. And while there's nothing explicitly scary about it, the feeling that you are somewhere you shouldn't be persists. Those puzzles were waaay too hard for a kid! Luckily my dad figured them out for me.
This game freaked the hell out of me when I was a kid. And while there's nothing explicitly scary about it, the feeling that you are somewhere you shouldn't be persists. Those puzzles were waaay too hard for a kid! Luckily my dad figured them out for me.