myst board game review

Myst is pure dreamlike. They are two brothers who gave shape to their imagination by creating a universe of a rare poetry whose history we must write. Simply two brothers who initiated a door to another world in order to share their own dreams with others. Myst is simply a concentrate of imagination and raw sensations, a book open to an unknown destination and waiting for you. Follow me, I'll take you there ...

I TALK TO YOU ABOUT A TIME UNDER 20 YEARS OF AGE CANNOT KNOW ...
With its visuals from another age, its almost nonexistent animations or the difficulty, even the impossibility, of running it on a recent PC, there is no doubt that in our time, Myst is an antique game. However, this absolutely mythical point and click was in its time a technical revolution. First released on Mac in 1993 and then on PC a year later, it undermined the most efficient computers of its time because of its precalculated images in 3D and 256 colors. The specialized press even qualified it as the most beautiful game in the world, which remains a real tour de force when you know that Myst was mainly produced in two years by ... two brothers, no more no less. Suffice to say that performance is a feat even if it is ready to smile today. In the end, Myst remains the best-selling PC game in the world between 1994 and 2002, following on from four additional canonical episodes, an online spin-off and even several novels.

WHEN THE DREAM BECOMES REALITY

However, Myst is not just a beautiful and enticing showcase. He is also, and above all, a pioneer and a benchmark in its genre. A game so original and ahead of its time that it alone initiated a sub-declination of the adventure game, the Myst-like, having for specificities a vision in the first person, few dialogs and a very dreamlike universe. . And indeed, Myst has a truly unique and incredibly rich universe, with its lot of puzzles just as complex in their mechanism as in their difficulty in solving them. You have to think about and perceive the world in a completely different way once you are in the game. It is moreover complicated to define in simple words all that can provide such a title, because it goes far beyond the simple pleasure of gaming by bringing player of really intense sensations. Myst is in fact lived as an immense adventure straight out of the most improbable dreams, the primary goal being to let go to get totally lost. It is with this in mind that you embody this hero of whom we know absolutely nothing, from his name to his gender. You just discover one fine day a mysterious book called Myst, in which there is an animated panel showing a small abandoned island. By touching this screen, you are suddenly trapped inside the work. And now you are alone, lost on the island of Myst, which is now waiting for you to reveal its most buried secrets. From the outset, the significant absence of ambient music but the omnipresence of striking sound effects of realism completely immerses the player in this strange world. A very strong feeling of loneliness is felt, an impression that will worsen and last throughout the game. Add to this the fact that we meet absolutely no one - with a few exceptions as will be mentioned later - and that we enjoy great freedom of movement, understand that this generates a flawless immersion. You have no goals yet, you have landed there and now you have to write your story. You are the hero of Myst, and you will experience adventure in your own way.

TWO BROTHERS, ONE FATHER AND SEVERAL WORLDS

The tone is set. While exploring the island, the player is very quickly led to come across different mechanisms of which he cannot grasp the subtleties for the moment. It is by disembarking in the library, the central location of the island, that we discover the future task which falls to you. Indeed, at each end of it is a colorful book: a red on one side and a blue on the other. When you open them, you see Sirrus locked up in one and Achenar a prisoner in the other, both are brothers and sons of a certain Atrus whose name is already familiar to you at this stage of the adventure. Each of the two brothers then asks you to release him from his prison, by recovering the missing pages from his book. These pages are scattered in other worlds linked to the island of Myst, worlds that must first be discovered by solving the mechanisms and other puzzles present in the surroundings. So done, you have access to new linking books leading you to other parallel worlds called Ages. There are four in all, and each of them has a unique and full-fledged universe, always as immersive and with its share of more twisted puzzles than the others. Each Age has a blue page and a red page to flush out, which you can bring back only one by one. In the end, a choice will have to be made: who to help Sirrus or Achenar? The clues revealed as you progress on each of the two brothers seem sometimes to converge, sometimes to diverge. But the truth may still be elsewhere ... there are 4 possible endings, it's up to you to discover them all.

I explore at my leisure and I take my time

By this system, it does not matter what order you bring the different pages. You can explore the Ages as you see fit, with complete freedom of movement. No stress, no possible death, no chance meeting other than that of the two brothers and the father, you advance at your own pace and this is what once again reinforces this incredible immersion. Time has no effect on you, you are immersed in this universe at once strange but yet so familiar. You read or listen to each text carefully to learn more and more about the relationships between Atrus, his two sons and the worlds you are going through. You write down on a sheet or in the booklet supplied with the game everything that closely or indirectly resembles a clue. The view is sharpened, we rummage everywhere, we hope, we get angry, then we start to create logical connections, the scenario takes shape and everything seems clearer. It should also be noted that at that time, the Internet was in its infancy. We were then much less assisted than now, the only help we could hope to have in case of difficulty on an enigma was a simple booklet with 3 derisory tricks in the game box. Yes, for lack of anything better, we had to dig the meninges, which means that in theory Myst can end extremely quickly, while in practice you can no longer even see the hours pass in front of you. In the end, Myst is pure reflection combined with an escape from the senses. We travel while awake, and this is surely what continues today to make the charm of the game and even of the series: the technique dates, but the dream remains immutable in this timeless work.

The notes
+ Positive points
A dreamlike and immersive experience rarely equaled
Research, note taking and puzzle solving are very rewarding
Different portages are available ...

Negative points
... because the PC version has aged very badly
Almost impossible to run it on the latest Windows / Mac
Some slightly twisted puzzles

A vestige of an era that is now over, Myst has since succeeded in crossing the ages without ever really losing its splendor. Although the technical gap is indeed present, the artistic leg of the game remains frankly impressive, even today. Between its inspired decor and its atypical universe mastered down to the last detail, Myst prides itself on being still today the 3rd best-selling PC game in the world. If his world charmed you and you want to know the end of the story, his Riven suite awaits you firmly as well as the rest of the series.

Games apps reviews