Myst

Submission 3,797

About

Myst is a first-person, point-and-click puzzle adventure video game created by Robyn and Rand Miller. Developed by Cyan, Myst debuted on the Apple Macintosh first, before appearing on PC and the video video game consoles PlayStation, Sega Saturn and more. The game inspired several remakes and ports, as well as other media, like spin-off novels.

History

Brothers Rand and Robyn Miller began developing Myst in 1991. Designed as a video game to appeal to adults, one with the elements of children's fantasy game but with increased depth. In regards to development of the game, the brothers said:

"It was this leapfrog kind of experience, where we would draw a building and say, 'What's in that building, and why is that in the building?' And it just so happened that it was much more satisfying as we built this space to start to build a story behind it. It wasn't necessary, but for some reason in our minds, if there wasn't a story, [the game] lost some kind of credibility."

Myst was released on the Mac on September 24th, 1993. followed by a Windows release the following year. The game would go on to be one of the biggest-selling PC games of all time.^[1]^[2] It would later receive remasters and ports to other systems, including Myst: Masterpiece Edition^[9], featuring updated pre-rendered stills, and realMyst, a version of the game that utilized real-time 3D graphics and added features such as a day-and-night cycle and weather effects, which itself would receive a remaster in 2014.^[10]

Sequels

Riven

On October 31st, 1997, Red Orb Entertainment published the sequel to Myst, entitled Riven. Myst's developer Cyan began production on Riven shortly after they released Myst. The game received largely positive reviews, with the review aggregator Metacritic^[3] giving Riven a score of 83 (generally favorable reviews).

An official fan-made remaster of Riven, under the title of The Starry Expanse Project is currently in development, with the aim of recreating the game in real-time 3D, similar to that of realMyst.^[11]

Myst III: Exile

Ubisoft released Myst III: Exile on the Mac and PC on May 7th, 2001. It is the first Myst game not produced and directed by the Miller brothers. However, Rand Miller returned to do vocal work on the game, while Robyn Miller did not compose the music for the first time in the series.^[4]

Uru: Ages Beyond Myst

On November 11th, 2003, Ubisoft released Uru: Ages Beyond Myst for Windows-based PCs. The game received generally favorable reviews upon its release; though, it is somewhat less well-liked than other games in the series.^[5] It would also release with a multiplayer component titled Myst Online: Uru Live, initially running from 2007 to 2008, before being relaunched as a free-to-play title by Cyan in 2010.^[12]

Myst IV: Revelation

Ubisoft released the fifth Myst game, Myst IV: Revelation on September 28th, 2004.^[6] The game received positive reviews in the New York Times.^[7] Writer Charles Herold wrote:

Since I began to play Ubisoft's adventure game Myst IV Revelation, all the other games have been gathering dust.

Revelation demands that you play nothing but Revelation, think about nothing but Revelation, give your life to no other pursuit. The game's complex puzzles require your absolute attention.

Fortunately, Revelation's worlds are so gorgeous and immersive that it is no hardship to linger in them. Exotic monkeys jabber at you in a shadowy jungle while elsewhere a spring spews soap bubbles that you can hold in your hand. The game is remarkably alive and kinetic, and many times a new vista or a creature interaction made me stop and say, "Wow."

Myst V: End of Ages

On September 20th, 2005, Ubisoft published Myst V: End of Ages. Prior to the release of the game, Cyan announced that the game would be the finale of the series. The Miller brothers returned to the production of the game, after a near-decade absence from the franchise. The game received generally favorable reviews, according to Metacritic.^[8]

2020 Release

In September 2020, Oculus announced a port of Myst for the Oculus VR headset, though this version will also be able to play on conventional monitor displays. They wrote, "Cyan, the indie studio that created the beloved classic, has reimagined Myst -- built from the ground up for VR and available soon to play on Oculus Quest. With new art, sound, interactions, and even optional puzzle randomization – the highly anticipated Myst VR experience has finally arrived."