Review
Played on: Xbox Series X
Released: 2021
Myst. A title that a brings a lot of weight to the table. Especially for older audiences, like me. However, I'm ashamed to say I never played it back in the day! I vividly remember when Myst arrived, from the amazement of its pretty, pre-rendered backgrounds, to the massive hit it became on Mac in 1993 and PC in 1994.
Myst. A title that a brings a lot of weight to the table. Especially for older audiences, like me. However, I'm ashamed to say I never played it back in the day! I vividly remember when Myst arrived, from the amazement of its pretty, pre-rendered backgrounds, to the massive hit it became on Mac in 1993 and PC in 1994.
It would go on to sell millions of copies and receive ports to the CD based consoles like 3DO, Saturn and PlayStation of its time. The success would ensure it being ported to many platforms since, spawning sequels too, Riven being the most famous one.
Ever since I lay eyes on its mysterious artwork on the large, 90s, PC game box, I’ve been intrigued by it. Although puzzlers aren’t my strongest suit, I’ve always felt a guilt for not playing this monumental release. It opened gaming up for a more mature audience, regardless of if you’d played games prior to it.
The premise of Myst is simple, you land on a mysterious island after reading a book called Myst. This atmospheric island location contains several interactive, seemingly unrelated, random objects, monuments and buildings. This is where your curiosity is intrigued and further peaked when interacting with these various structures. Each one holds clues or puzzles to solve, further unlocking your progress deeper into its structures and into new books, leading to other worlds entirely.
It’s not a massive world, but it’s such a captivating one with its peaceful architecture, yet there’s something unsettling underlying it all. Combining intriguing, voiced storytelling and excellent music. It was, and still is, a scenario that appealed to so many, and its captivating puzzles kept people interested to give it one more go and progress a little further each time.
Ever since I lay eyes on its mysterious artwork on the large, 90s, PC game box, I’ve been intrigued by it. Although puzzlers aren’t my strongest suit, I’ve always felt a guilt for not playing this monumental release. It opened gaming up for a more mature audience, regardless of if you’d played games prior to it.
The premise of Myst is simple, you land on a mysterious island after reading a book called Myst. This atmospheric island location contains several interactive, seemingly unrelated, random objects, monuments and buildings. This is where your curiosity is intrigued and further peaked when interacting with these various structures. Each one holds clues or puzzles to solve, further unlocking your progress deeper into its structures and into new books, leading to other worlds entirely.
It’s not a massive world, but it’s such a captivating one with its peaceful architecture, yet there’s something unsettling underlying it all. Combining intriguing, voiced storytelling and excellent music. It was, and still is, a scenario that appealed to so many, and its captivating puzzles kept people interested to give it one more go and progress a little further each time.
The puzzles are relentlessly difficult, and back then it tempted customers with its state-of-the-art pre-rendered graphics, but it holds players back from finishing the game too quickly. This is a game from the days before guides were easily accessible on the internet, after all.
While it’s been ported countless times through the years, not counting some slightly upgraded versions, there are two previous versions out there: Legacy Myst and realMyst. The latter being an earlier attempt at a fully 3D version of Myst.
While it’s been ported countless times through the years, not counting some slightly upgraded versions, there are two previous versions out there: Legacy Myst and realMyst. The latter being an earlier attempt at a fully 3D version of Myst.
However, it was a complete remake of Myst on PC in 2020, that in turn was ported to my Xbox Series X in 2021, that captivated my attention. Finally, I decided to play this legendary title.
Teaming up with two friends, I streamed the game and connected to them through chat. Together we solved the puzzles, while I controlled the movement. It was a wonderful way of easier solving them with three minds, rather than resorting to a guide online. It’s very suited for this type of streaming play and without spoiling anything, there's even a dilemma about good and evil in the story, which really threw us off guard.
Unlike the pre-rendered backgrounds of the original, this version is completely 3D, sporting some fancy effects like ray tracing and AMD's FSR tech, and runs in 60fps. Although I've only seen the original Myst through screenshots and videos, I feel they’ve really nailed the colour and aesthetics of the original with this heavily graphically improved remake. It’s a wonderful way of understanding the atmosphere the original built back in 1993, through modern graphics.
The 3D movement feels more natural these days too, without the charming, but restrictive, point and click through pre-rendered pictures in the original. They've replicated the scale of the old backgrounds neatly and it feels like you're seeing the same places, but like you’re actually there. I can imagine the PC version in VR must be very cool!
This is a true puzzler of a game, it’s about nothing else. It’s relentless in its difficulty too, with solutions far expanding my own mind. Luckily, with the help of my friends, we got through it together. While Myst is a short game, when viewed from the small game world and actual length, the puzzle difficulties and exploring will keep you occupied for quite a few hours.
Teaming up with two friends, I streamed the game and connected to them through chat. Together we solved the puzzles, while I controlled the movement. It was a wonderful way of easier solving them with three minds, rather than resorting to a guide online. It’s very suited for this type of streaming play and without spoiling anything, there's even a dilemma about good and evil in the story, which really threw us off guard.
Unlike the pre-rendered backgrounds of the original, this version is completely 3D, sporting some fancy effects like ray tracing and AMD's FSR tech, and runs in 60fps. Although I've only seen the original Myst through screenshots and videos, I feel they’ve really nailed the colour and aesthetics of the original with this heavily graphically improved remake. It’s a wonderful way of understanding the atmosphere the original built back in 1993, through modern graphics.
The 3D movement feels more natural these days too, without the charming, but restrictive, point and click through pre-rendered pictures in the original. They've replicated the scale of the old backgrounds neatly and it feels like you're seeing the same places, but like you’re actually there. I can imagine the PC version in VR must be very cool!
This is a true puzzler of a game, it’s about nothing else. It’s relentless in its difficulty too, with solutions far expanding my own mind. Luckily, with the help of my friends, we got through it together. While Myst is a short game, when viewed from the small game world and actual length, the puzzle difficulties and exploring will keep you occupied for quite a few hours.
This version allows you to choose the exact 1993 puzzles or play with randomised puzzle solutions. The latter is perfect for Myst veterans, wanting to be challenged once again without remembering the answers.
With puzzle games there’s always this balance of the puzzles being logical enough to give players a chance at solving them or being so obscure it’s only solvable through completely, out of the box thinking. I felt Myst balanced this act well, it rarely felt like the solution was unfair or impossible, while at the same time it pushed our minds a far step outside of normal puzzle solving. That said, some of the solutions will be making you scratch your head for long periods of time.
If you’re from the generation that remembers Myst and missed out, I recommend giving this version a playthrough. Veterans of the old game will also love to relive the memories with a brand-new facelift, randomised puzzles and a fully explorable Myst world in 3D.
Sure, the premise of Myst has since been worn out by many other similar games, since its release in 1993. It offers nothing that hasn’t been seen before in modern times, but the way Myst delivered it for the first time, in such a great package.
We have a mysterious world, with pretty visuals that build atmosphere, intriguing puzzles which further unlock your progress. It's about tempting your curiosity to delve deeper into it's world. Great music to really set a mood to the scenes and a cool narrative story that makes it feel like a book being told.
With puzzle games there’s always this balance of the puzzles being logical enough to give players a chance at solving them or being so obscure it’s only solvable through completely, out of the box thinking. I felt Myst balanced this act well, it rarely felt like the solution was unfair or impossible, while at the same time it pushed our minds a far step outside of normal puzzle solving. That said, some of the solutions will be making you scratch your head for long periods of time.
If you’re from the generation that remembers Myst and missed out, I recommend giving this version a playthrough. Veterans of the old game will also love to relive the memories with a brand-new facelift, randomised puzzles and a fully explorable Myst world in 3D.
Sure, the premise of Myst has since been worn out by many other similar games, since its release in 1993. It offers nothing that hasn’t been seen before in modern times, but the way Myst delivered it for the first time, in such a great package.
We have a mysterious world, with pretty visuals that build atmosphere, intriguing puzzles which further unlock your progress. It's about tempting your curiosity to delve deeper into it's world. Great music to really set a mood to the scenes and a cool narrative story that makes it feel like a book being told.
It’s this combination of elements that set Myst as a fundamental release in gaming history and still manages captivate to this date.
