Has your dad ever gotten so mad at you and your brother that he trapped you both in books that require magical red and blue pages to set you free but some guy you don't even know has to find them by solving shitty gear puzzles? contact me right now please
Myst is a game I find downright haunting. I'm not sure whether that was the intention, but the lonely atmosphere, eerie soundtrack, and uncanny nature of early pre-rendered graphics definitely gives it a certain aura that I'm not able to shake. I played Myst with the lights off, something I only do for games that are explicitly labeled as "horror," yet it does such a good job at provoking unease in me that it feels entirely deserving of that treatment.
As I was building my Saturn collection I was surprised to find Myst and its sequel Riven: The Sequel to Myst were both ported to the console. "What an atrocious way to play Myst" I thought, then downloaded the ISO and burned the fucker onto a disc. Sure enough, it's about the least optimal way to pay this game. Scrolling between screens is agonizingly slow, with each new image causing the disk drive's laser head to click horribly as it searches for the correct image to load. I never put much stock into the idea of burned games wearing down the Saturn's disk drive, but the noises coming from my console while playing this game had me legitimately worried I was doing something destructive. You can at least change the speed of the cursor, though playing a point-and-click adventure game will always feel less satisfying on a gamepad. There is Saturn mouse support but... come on. I'm not searching the secondhand market and shelling out just to play a couple FMV adventure games. At that point I might as well play Myst on PC!
Of course there's plenty that's already been said about how arbitrary some of the puzzles are in this game, but it's still worth bringing up. I have no idea how some people solved these back in the day other than clicking around and hoping something in the world reacts. There's a number of puzzles with telegraphed solutions, though even those may require you to keep a notebook on hand to keep track of clues. I think Myst is best enjoyed without a guide, having all the solutions really robs the game of some of its atmosphere, but I also can't fault anyone for not wanting to beat their head against a wall until they make progress.
In fact, I think I don't have anything positive to say about the gameplay at all. I didn't care for rotating a gigantic fortress or redirecting water in the Ewok village, and my tone deaf ass wants to ring the neck of whoever designed the rocketship puzzle. But I could steep myself in the world of Myst for hours despite all that. It's a game that gets by on vibes alone. Traversing the different Ages (see: levels) feels like moving between one dream to the next, and indeed the creators of these worlds are presented both as programmers and lucid dreamers. Though they can change the very nature of worlds on a whim, their journals are written from the perspective of explorers in awe of how these Ages take shape. As a meta narrative for creating a story it's a bit on the nose, but I think it's incredibly interesting nonetheless.
The story of how the game got made is also fascinating, I'd definitely recommend checking out the Ars Technica interview with Rand Miller as well as the original Making of Myst documentary. It's clear a lot of thought and love went into creating the game, and the Miller's talents are undeniable. It's hard then to simply write the game off as being aged, no matter how obtuse or clunky it can be. What Cyan was doing at the time was unprecedented, and it's success was well earned.
Now if you'd please bring me more blue pages. Under no circumstance should you bring me red pages, I am deathly serious about this. Blue pages ONLY. Please, my freedom is on the line! I just need you to go into this Greek library and solve a numerology puzzle involving the birthdays of every sitting US president. No, where are you going? Come back! I haven't even told you about the crossword puzzle that has to be solved using a dead language! Noooooooo!
Myst is a game I find downright haunting. I'm not sure whether that was the intention, but the lonely atmosphere, eerie soundtrack, and uncanny nature of early pre-rendered graphics definitely gives it a certain aura that I'm not able to shake. I played Myst with the lights off, something I only do for games that are explicitly labeled as "horror," yet it does such a good job at provoking unease in me that it feels entirely deserving of that treatment.
As I was building my Saturn collection I was surprised to find Myst and its sequel Riven: The Sequel to Myst were both ported to the console. "What an atrocious way to play Myst" I thought, then downloaded the ISO and burned the fucker onto a disc. Sure enough, it's about the least optimal way to pay this game. Scrolling between screens is agonizingly slow, with each new image causing the disk drive's laser head to click horribly as it searches for the correct image to load. I never put much stock into the idea of burned games wearing down the Saturn's disk drive, but the noises coming from my console while playing this game had me legitimately worried I was doing something destructive. You can at least change the speed of the cursor, though playing a point-and-click adventure game will always feel less satisfying on a gamepad. There is Saturn mouse support but... come on. I'm not searching the secondhand market and shelling out just to play a couple FMV adventure games. At that point I might as well play Myst on PC!
Of course there's plenty that's already been said about how arbitrary some of the puzzles are in this game, but it's still worth bringing up. I have no idea how some people solved these back in the day other than clicking around and hoping something in the world reacts. There's a number of puzzles with telegraphed solutions, though even those may require you to keep a notebook on hand to keep track of clues. I think Myst is best enjoyed without a guide, having all the solutions really robs the game of some of its atmosphere, but I also can't fault anyone for not wanting to beat their head against a wall until they make progress.
In fact, I think I don't have anything positive to say about the gameplay at all. I didn't care for rotating a gigantic fortress or redirecting water in the Ewok village, and my tone deaf ass wants to ring the neck of whoever designed the rocketship puzzle. But I could steep myself in the world of Myst for hours despite all that. It's a game that gets by on vibes alone. Traversing the different Ages (see: levels) feels like moving between one dream to the next, and indeed the creators of these worlds are presented both as programmers and lucid dreamers. Though they can change the very nature of worlds on a whim, their journals are written from the perspective of explorers in awe of how these Ages take shape. As a meta narrative for creating a story it's a bit on the nose, but I think it's incredibly interesting nonetheless.
The story of how the game got made is also fascinating, I'd definitely recommend checking out the Ars Technica interview with Rand Miller as well as the original Making of Myst documentary. It's clear a lot of thought and love went into creating the game, and the Miller's talents are undeniable. It's hard then to simply write the game off as being aged, no matter how obtuse or clunky it can be. What Cyan was doing at the time was unprecedented, and it's success was well earned.
Now if you'd please bring me more blue pages. Under no circumstance should you bring me red pages, I am deathly serious about this. Blue pages ONLY. Please, my freedom is on the line! I just need you to go into this Greek library and solve a numerology puzzle involving the birthdays of every sitting US president. No, where are you going? Come back! I haven't even told you about the crossword puzzle that has to be solved using a dead language! Noooooooo!