Windows 3.x

Myst

While Myst is superlative, I do have two complaints: the lack of high-end 3D and animated visuals, and the cheesy ending. Almost all its animations are simple QuickTime videos running in tiny screens. Myst's creators, Rand and Robyn Miller, seamlessly integrated those videos into the background graphics and designed stunning artwork, but simply adding fog is not enough to create a true 3D feel. And the ending is a big let-down, not much more than a plug for Myst II. Nevertheless, if you own a PC, you owe it to yourself to try Myst.

In the end I would call Myst a good game. It has since been surpassed amongst its kind, I would say, but remains a strong and interesting play with a decent (if not long or overly complex) character-based story, interesting puzzles and an efficiently minimal interface. The graphics are good, in some places very good, while music and sound does the job, if seldom little more. Of course, this is not a game for those with a strong preference for either inventory puzzles or long dialogs – Myst has neither an inventory system (as has been mentioned) nor a dialog tree system – when one of the few characters speaks you more or less have the choice of listening or leaving.

Myst retails for roughly $20-30 dollars these days and is a steal for that price. For the number of hours of game play you get you would be paying twice that for a newer game. The graphics may reflect older technology but they certainly are not unimaginative or unattractive. The puzzles range from learning how to make mechanical instruments works to correctly sequencing an organ to the tried and true maze but I think that because of the number challenges there is something for everyone in this game, hence its wide appeal. So if you have been wondering what all the chatter is about go out and purchase a copy and become one of the initiated.

In Sachen Kain und Abel...

Daß es mit der Bruderliebe oftmals nicht so weit her sein kann, liest man schon in den ersten Kapiteln der Bibel. Auf Myst herrschen ebenfalls frostige Familienverhältnisse. Wer glauben Sie, kann die Dinge auf der Insel besser geraderücken, als Sie selbst?

Fast könnte man annehmen, daß die geistigen Väter dieses Adventures die Unendliche Geschichte zu ihrer endlichen Geschichte auserkoren haben. Denn das Abenteuer beginnt, als Sie eines schönen Tages über ein geheimnisvolles Buch stolpern. Sie lesen darin von einem sagenhaften Inselreich namens Myst. Faszinierende, schier unglaubliche Dinge spielen sich dort ab. Aber was soll's! Es ist ja nur ein Buch, oder?