Myst | Know Your Meme

About

Myst is a first-person, point-and-click puzzle adventure video game created by Robyn and Rand Miller. Developed by Cyan, Myst debuted on the Apple Macintosh first, before appearing on PC and the video video game consoles PlayStation, Sega Saturn and more. The game inspired several remakes and ports, as well as other media, like spin-off novels.

History

Brothers Rand and Robyn Miller began developing Myst in 1991. Designed as a video game to appeal to adults, one with the elements of children’s fantasy game but with increased depth. “It was this leapfrog kind of experience, where we would draw a building and say, ‘What’s in that building, and why is that in the building?’ And it just so happened that it was much more satisfying as we built this space to start to build a story behind it. It wasn’t necessary, but for some reason in our minds, if there wasn’t a story, [the game] lost some kind of credibility.”

Myst was released on the Mac on September 24th, 1993. designed the game as a video game for adults. They began developing the game in 1991. The game would of on to be the biggest-selling PC game of all time.

Sequels

Riven

On October 31st, 1997, Red Orb entertainment released the sequel to Myst, entitled Riven. Myst’s developer Cyan began production on Riven shortly after they released Myst. The game received largely positive reviews, with the review aggregator MetacriticRiven 83 (generally favorable reviews).

Myst III: Exile

Ubisoft released Myst III: Exile on the Mac and PC on May 7th, 2001. It is the first Myst game not produced and directed by the Miller brothers. However, Rand Miller returned to do vocal work on the game, while Robyn Miller did not compose the music for the first time in the series.

Uru: Ages Beyond Myst

On November 11th, 2003, Ubisoft released Uru: Ages Beyond Myst for Windows-based PC. The game received generally favorable reviews upon its release; though, it is somewhat less well-liked than other games in the series.

Myst IV: Revelation

Ubisoft released the fifth Myst game, Myst IV: Revelation on September 28th, 2004. The game received positive reviews in the New York Times. Writer Charles Herold wrote:

Since I began to play Ubisoft’s adventure game Myst IV Revelation, all the other games have been gathering dust.

Revelation demands that you play nothing but Revelation, think about nothing but Revelation, give your life to no other pursuit. The game’s complex puzzles require your absolute attention.

Fortunately, Revelation’s worlds are so gorgeous and immersive that it is no hardship to linger in them. Exotic monkeys jabber at you in a shadowy jungle while elsewhere a spring spews soap bubbles that you can hold in your hand. The game is remarkably alive and kinetic, and many times a new vista or a creature interaction made me stop and say, “Wow.”

Myst V: End of Ages

On September 20th, 2005, Ubisoft released Myst V: End of Ages. Prior to the release of the game, Cyan announced that the game would be the finale of the series. The Miller brothers returned to the production of the game, after a near-decade absence from the franchise. The game received generally favorable reviews, according to Metacritic.

Occulus Release

In September 2020, Oculus announced a port of Myst for the Oculus VR headset. They wrote, “Cyan, the indie studio that created the beloved classic, has reimagined Myst — built from the ground up for VR and available soon to play on Oculus Quest. With new art, sound, interactions, and even optional puzzle randomization – the highly anticipated Myst VR experience has finally arrived.”

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External References