a bunch of people has asked me about the different versions of MYST that's currently available to purchase right now. so i figured i should write a quick overview for the three main versions of the original game:
- MYST: Masterpiece Edition
this is essentially an emulation (ScummVM) and everything's done for you out of the box. it's got the original assets but better rendered. this is very much the original point-and-click game, just running for modern OS.
however, the game has audio puzzles which do not work well for anyone who is hard of hearing or just hates that kinda shit. dialog is also full of static due to the Plot and this was honestly hard to parse for me. there are transcripts of the dialog, but the puzzles that require you to know sound effect can't really be done without good hearing.
if you are a stickler for Original Titles and can hear well enough, then this version is pretty cool.
- realMYST: Masterpiece Edition
this is one of the more interesting remakes i've ever encountered. while it's ostensibly a reworking of the original MYST, it changes a lot of how the game plays and feels by scrapping the pre-rendered backgrounds and point-and-click gameplay for a "first person"-styled game. this makes it kinda modern but very different.
the pre-rendered backgrounds are gone entirely. instead, we get actual real-time 3d graphics and you are also able to walk around like it's some first person shooter game. this makes some puzzles easier, but it does make it more accessible and less a "point-and-click" nightmare.
the game also sports a day-night cycle which affects how the world looks around you. you even get a flashlight when it's too dark. it's cheesy and the puzzles are not at all designed for this kinda stuff, but i do think the cycle adds a mystical quality to the game.
realMYST also features a new age to explore and it directly connects to the Riven sequel.
however, the Masterpiece Edition seems a bit botched from the original, which can be found on Internet Archive but i've never got it working. while the controls are certainly better, it does feel like it's meant for smartphones. the way you look around isn't what you'd expect in a FPS game but what you would find as a compromise in smartphone games. it's a bit unoptimized too (based Unity).
and realMYST does not have subtitles for dialog and the audio puzzles afaik.
i would at least say it's good to peek at the new age for the game at least before going into Riven. there are no audio puzzles there and i think the puzzles are interesting since the creators came back to simple MYST puzzles after the juggernaut that is Riven. it's def worth your time.
this is a good title if you want a bit more modern in your MYST-ing and the new age definitely helps.
- MYST (2021)
the 2021 remake is quite strange to explain because it is the most overcooked and undercooked thing i've played in years. and it is also the most accessible game of the three.
i'll explain the accessibility stuff first: this is a proper first person game working on unreal engine 4. for modern players, this is a boon. unlike realMYST's strange control scheme, the 2021 remake just plays like any first person game out there. this is the version i played myself and i found myself getting lost in the game's visuals.
what really helped is the audio subtitles. both cutscenes (if they're in the weird ass 3D form) and audio puzzles have subtitles, which really really help for me. it makes audio puzzles easier for sure, but it's undeniably accessible. i can't really make out some subtle sound cues (which was a problem in Riven for me), so this remake actually helped out.
some of the puzzles in the remake have also lost its obtuseness in order to make it accessible for VR gameplay and modern brains. your mileage may vary here, but i personally find it a welcoming addition and it makes the game more grounded.
it's also one of the more beautiful games out there and i can imagine it looking really awesome in VR too. you don't need goggles to play it, but it's certainly the draw.
but this remake lacks a lot of stuff that you would've come to expect from realMYST. it would've been cool to see the day-night cycle in VR, but that's not there. the new age is also missing too.
and while the game did recently patch in a way to watch the fmv cutscenes instead of their generic 3d models, the cutscenes are not … subtitled. same audio, no subtitle. very strange.
i also wonder if the graphics are a bit too shiny and detailed at times, which goes against the minimalist spirit of the original. a point of contention for example is the mechanical age where the staff seems to have designed more than they needed to -- it feels like they "overexplained" to a degree.
the most baffling change to me is the letter to catherine in the beginning. this is an important letter that was added in the development of the game because playtesters of the original needed some direction. in both the original and realMYST versions, the letter is on the grass. you'll definitely see it. in the remake, it's on some rock. white blends very well with gray, effectively camouflaging the letter. i had to look up a walkthrough to find out what i needed to do and i just slapped my forehead when i realized i kept missing the letter.
nevertheless, this remake is perhaps the best for modern players and people who are hard of hearing. while it lacks a lot of interesting stuff in realMYST, it does make up for how welcoming the title is. and it's a damn pretty game.
Conclusion
MYST is pretty good, so play it. but what is often not talked about is how the plot of MYST is a prologue to Riven, a far ambitious and grander title. if you're going to play any of the MYST versions here, i'd definitely nab Riven too.
Riven is honestly one of the best titles in adventure gaming and i wish more people talked about it lol. maybe i'll write a post about it at some point...
largely agree, but some additional notes:
- I wouldn't necessarily say FPS controls are more accessible—one reason a lot of people got into the original game was that you didn't need to invest in learning a control scheme other than the one you already knew from desktop computer use. Some people also get motion sick when watching 3D games. For either of these groups I'd recommend Myst ME. I think it still looks good!
- realMYST and realMYST: Masterpiece Edition are actually two completely different games! The first one was made in 2000 as a test bed for their in-house Plasma engine, and is no longer available to purchase, though was previously available on GOG. realMYST ME was made in 2014 in Unity. (The original Myst from 1993 made in Hypercard also isn't available to buy but there really isn't any reason to play it over Myst ME.)
- Myst (2020) was originally released as an Occulus exclusive, and only made available elsewhere a year later. Some longtime fans of the series actually liked the fact that they dropped the day/night cycle, which as mentioned makes some puzzles awkward, and Rime, which fans felt was a rushed retcon.
- Myst (2020) also lets you choose between keeping the original puzzle solutions, which were static, or randomizing them, which might be more interesting for people who already played an earlier release.
- Ever since realMYST, fans have been wanting a real-time 3D version of Riven. In 2009, a dedicated group decided to do it themselves, with The Starry Expanse Project. In October 2022 though, Cyan hired the team and there hasn't been any news since.
