It’s so strange to find a game that’s thirty years old so engaging. Although several of my favorite games of all time are heavily influenced by Myst (Outer Wilds, Inscryption, The Witness), so I guess it’s no surprise that I had a fantastic time with this classic. There were a few moments where the game showed its age -an obtuse puzzle here, a bit of confusing navigation there- but all in all, Myst is brilliantly composed, and it's no wonder you can still see its ghost in games made a quarter century later. It was refreshing to be forced to break out a pen and paper from time to time, I haven’t experienced that since The Witness. I’m not really sure why someone would want to play an updated version of this game, the 90s graphics and FMV are so charming, and these mechanics would feel somewhat dated in a 3d Unity remake. Between the grotesquely clean graphics and the lack of puzzle context thanks to the free camera, every bit of gameplay I saw from the 2021 release just made me happy that I chose to play the original edition instead. A real treat for knowledge-based game fans, do yourself a favor and spend 5 hours experiencing a piece of influential gaming history!

Grade: A