Myst is notorious for its incredibly complex puzzles, yet its captivating world and style captivate and compel exploration. I remember and recall playing Myst III in the early 2000s in my local library, having only seen copies of the game on the shelf for various systems at stores throughout the years. However, I refrained from playing it due to its incredibly complex puzzles, which even a small child would struggle to understand. Cyan completely remakes the game in real-time, so you can freely walk around these areas, unlike previous versions, which were fixed pre-rendered images.
Myst isn't very story-heavy, but the world is interesting, and as you explore the main island, you eventually learn the pattern of how to travel to other islands and get to the ending. Technically, you can reach the end of the game in two minutes (there's an achievement for it, and I got it after many frustrating tries), but you also want all four endings, so I recommend following a guide the first time around. This game is very landmark-heavy, so it's important you remember where everything is. The main island has a hub that will transport you to the islands, but you must solve the puzzle to unlock their doors.
You can follow this pattern by locating a map in the main library and directing the laser to various locations. Once you have done this, you can go up the library elevator and look for a single clue to help unlock the door to that island. These puzzles on the island are fairly easy and not hard to figure out at all, and each island's puzzle gets progressively more complex and obtuse. Channelwood Island is the easiest, with just levers that you need to flip to make water run through a pipe to power elevators and bridges. It's very straight-forward. By the end of the game, you are using audio cues to determine what direction a train goes via a compass rose. These sounds are from another island, which you hopefully wrote down or memorized. It's very overwhelming at first, but doing a guide playthrough allows you to do randomized playthroughs later to get the last few achievements.
Outside of the run button, the gameplay is very simple. You interact with objects, and that's pretty much it. Each island has a very linear path, so you can't get lost, but the cryptic symbols on doors and switches may scare some players and turn many away. I did run across a glitch here and there, such as an achievement not popping up or getting stuck in the game world (there's a reset option, thankfully), and you can save anywhere, which is nice. Despite the pleasant music and voiced dialog in the cutscenes, the game still feels dated, even with effects like HDR and ray-tracing enabled. The textures are fairly low-resolution, and the lighting just feels very artificial. There's also a low draw distance, so outside of the island you are on, there's just endless fog. I would have liked to have seen more stuff in the distance.
Overall, Myst is mostly for those who played it years ago, in 1993, but newcomers who crave brain-scraping puzzles will love this game. With a guide, you can breeze through the game in about 2 hours, but I went back and got all but three achievements, as they were fun to get. Once you get to know the island and the puzzles, the game becomes more fun with random playthroughs. Even though the puzzle solutions vary, you already know how to solve them, which is half the fight.
Myst isn't very story-heavy, but the world is interesting, and as you explore the main island, you eventually learn the pattern of how to travel to other islands and get to the ending. Technically, you can reach the end of the game in two minutes (there's an achievement for it, and I got it after many frustrating tries), but you also want all four endings, so I recommend following a guide the first time around. This game is very landmark-heavy, so it's important you remember where everything is. The main island has a hub that will transport you to the islands, but you must solve the puzzle to unlock their doors.
You can follow this pattern by locating a map in the main library and directing the laser to various locations. Once you have done this, you can go up the library elevator and look for a single clue to help unlock the door to that island. These puzzles on the island are fairly easy and not hard to figure out at all, and each island's puzzle gets progressively more complex and obtuse. Channelwood Island is the easiest, with just levers that you need to flip to make water run through a pipe to power elevators and bridges. It's very straight-forward. By the end of the game, you are using audio cues to determine what direction a train goes via a compass rose. These sounds are from another island, which you hopefully wrote down or memorized. It's very overwhelming at first, but doing a guide playthrough allows you to do randomized playthroughs later to get the last few achievements.
Outside of the run button, the gameplay is very simple. You interact with objects, and that's pretty much it. Each island has a very linear path, so you can't get lost, but the cryptic symbols on doors and switches may scare some players and turn many away. I did run across a glitch here and there, such as an achievement not popping up or getting stuck in the game world (there's a reset option, thankfully), and you can save anywhere, which is nice. Despite the pleasant music and voiced dialog in the cutscenes, the game still feels dated, even with effects like HDR and ray-tracing enabled. The textures are fairly low-resolution, and the lighting just feels very artificial. There's also a low draw distance, so outside of the island you are on, there's just endless fog. I would have liked to have seen more stuff in the distance.
Overall, Myst is mostly for those who played it years ago, in 1993, but newcomers who crave brain-scraping puzzles will love this game. With a guide, you can breeze through the game in about 2 hours, but I went back and got all but three achievements, as they were fun to get. Once you get to know the island and the puzzles, the game becomes more fun with random playthroughs. Even though the puzzle solutions vary, you already know how to solve them, which is half the fight.