Overview
Myst is an interesting game in that it kind of throws you
into the middle of things without much fanfare or explanation. There's a short intro video, then BAM!, you're in the game. In some ways, this gives you a lot of
freedom, as your player character could really be anybody. You could be playing Batman, for all you
know. It also lets you discover things
slowly instead of being hit over the head with the setting. Did I like this interesting execution? Let's find out.
Story
As I said, there's not much of a story to Myst... when you
start out. You're transported to the
Isle of Myst through a book and you have to try and discover its mysteries with
little to no instruction. "Why am I
doing this?" I thought quite a bit
while playing this game. The answer was
always: "I don't really know, but it's kinda fun."
Through your explorations of the isle, you come across two
very interesting books. In them are
little screens that two brothers speak to you from. The brother in the red book, Sirrus, says
that he's been wrongfully imprisoned and begs you to find red pages in your
journeys to set him free. Achenar, the
brother in the blue book, also claims that he doesn't deserve to be trapped and
wants you to bring the blue pages to him.
It's an interesting mechanic that forces you to decide which one of
these guys you're going to trust even though, at first, you know nothing about
them.
The end of the story?
I won't spoil it, but I have to complain that it was terribly
anti-climactic. Perhaps the next Myst
game remedies this a bit, but on its own, the ending gave no closure.
Gameplay
Gameplay in Myst is a familiar thing if you've played any
Nancy Drew adventure games. First
person, click to move, interact with the environment and all that good
stuff. Unlike Nancy Drew, however,
there's no inventory at all in Myst, meaning that every puzzle is environment
based. This isn't necessarily a bad
thing, but I did kind of get tired seeing a blue/red page in the cursor for
such a long period of time. I was always
afraid that I was going to lose it somehow.
Now, a word about the puzzles. Obviously, they're a huge part of the game,
but for me, they were often too difficult.
A note to game developers: if you have to put in an in-game
hint/solution system, like the one in Myst, it's a hint that the puzzles are
too obscure. Sure, there were some
things that I figured out just fine on my own, but some were just ridiculous. You'll
have to take lots of notes to solve these puzzles, as well as keeping an open
ear. A surprising amount of puzzles were
sound-based, which was interesting, if not always well executed.
Conclusion
Myst is considered one of the greatest adventuring games of
all time, so obviously I had to give it a try. Was it an intriguing
system? Yes. Were some of the puzzles well done? Yes.
Was the setting beautiful?
Yes.
Still, the frustrating puzzles outweigh the well-done ones,
and between that and the ending, I don't think Myst will ever be a huge
favorite of mine. Unless someone's made a mod that lets you play Batman.
