realMyst: Masterpiece Edition

Have you heard of Myst? It is the most well-known first-person puzzle game. Perhaps it is even the first, I’m not sure. Known for a beautiful, lonely and imaginative world, you must figure out what is going on. This is realMyst: Masterpiece Edition, the up-up-updated rerelease of Myst! So for those of you who haven’t tried the original Myst, give this one a shot. It has a few more modern features to help out as well as new, spiffy graphics.

Now, I have played the original Myst before, but that was way back in the day. I pretty much remember nothing from it, so for this review, it’s like, 90% a new game to me.

Find it on Steam here.

What is Myst? It is a strange island with barely any starting explanation. You have to explore to figure out what’s going on. When I first started, I missed the very first clue of the game and spent quite a while wandering around before getting a hint on what to do. It’s great!

What does realMyst: Masterpiece Edition have? Well, updated graphics for one. It also has a free roam mode, so you don’t have to click around the screen to move. You can just walk around using WASD. The world is fully 3D and mostly accessible. The mouse is a bit annoying as it has two modes. One is look mode, that controls the camera. The other is click around the screen mode that allows you to move around the screen but doesn’t move the camera. It takes a bit to get used to.

How does Myst hold up to the games of today? It’s actually a lot smaller than I remember it, but I was really young when I first played it. Everything must have felt bigger back then. Overall, though, it still works really nice. The story is simple, but solid.

Being a puzzle game, the game play still works since there aren’t many mechanics to consider. Also, the world design is still pretty cool to look at. I’m not even referring to the new graphics. Just the atmosphere and imagination of the place is great.

Myst is kind of known for being obtuse, and this game doesn’t change that original feeling. You get few instructions on what to do. You have to pay attention to the machines and switches and what they do. The puzzles have a range of difficulty. Overall, it’s not too bad, but there are some really strange ones. At least the game has a hint system.

Myst is divided up into ages, though each age is really more of one island and some puzzles. The goal of the game is to fine something in each age and then get back to the main island to use those somethings.

Thinking about it now, I think the difficulty of the two tasks are reversed. In the game, finding the objects is the easy part while getting back to the island is the tough part. It seems like it would be better to make finding your way back to the island the easy part and finding the objects the tough part.

That way, you won’t feel like you’re trapped in an age. You can go do other stuff first. Though it would mean more puzzles, since there are more than one object per age.

Myst is still a classic and still feels good to play today. realMyst: Masterpiece Edition is a cool update of the game that gives you the ability to freely roam the islands of Myst and get a good look at the worlds. For fans of puzzle games, Myst is still a fun time with a cool world and interesting story.

Also, this isn’t in reference to anything in particular, but if you give me a puzzle that requires more than pointing-and-clicking, I will need help solving it. You tell me I need to hold down the mouse button? I’m totally lost.

Find it on Steam.