Myst has had its fair share of re-releases, remakes, and ports. I’m not complaining at all, the game is a classic and the series is one of my favorites, so when Cyan Worlds recreated it in real-time 3D (again) but this in Unreal Engine 4 – I was there like a bear. The 2021 console edition of Myst was great and instilled a desire to replay the series, and when they announced they would be giving Riven: The Sequel to Myst the same treatment that was twist of the rubber arm I needed. So, a small side note here, I said replay but in actuality I haven’t finished all titles in the series. They are featured on the Backlog List of Shame and I intend to change that by just having completed Myst IV: Revelation and getting through Myst V: End of Ages next.
That sense of discovery has always been a key part of the series.
All this brings me to the point of this ramble, I replayed Myst III: Exile. Not developed by Cyan Worlds, primary studio behind most of the titles, Exile was instead developed by Presto Studios of The Journeyman Project fame and published by Ubisoft. As with previous titles, players interact with the environment by clicking on elements within a pre-rendered screen and Exile boasts full 360° views of locations. These renders still look great today, some twenty odd years later, as the worlds of Myst have always had a unique style and design. Progression revolves around exploring these environments and solving puzzles which rely on the player finding clues scattered throughout the world to understand the mechanics of the puzzle, and then how to solve it. That sense of discovery has always been a key part of the series, exploration and observation lead to an understanding of puzzle goals and solutions.
One such awesome series of puzzles was in the Amateria Age (Ages are different locations or worlds in the Myst universe) where players solve a series of smaller puzzles that focus on guiding an ice sphere at various points along a track. Clues as to how to balance the sphere correctly or the correct path it must take at select intersections are scattered throughout the Age, and on completing all the smaller puzzles and linking the track together, the player then experiences this journey within their own sphere. It’s a great example of what the series does best, learning and understanding mechanics of smaller puzzles and how they relate to help solve the main objective.
This new developer also meant bringing in a new composer for the game as Robyn Miller, who had composed both the Myst and Riven soundtracks, was co-founder of Cyan and not part of the Presto team. So, the studio brought in Jack Wall to compose the music which is the stand-out feature of Exile, the soundtrack is just amazing, with all the intriguing and subtle tones of Myst mixed with some big moments. This paired with the stylish visuals make the game great even by today’s standards, and Exile is often overlooked when talking about Myst or Riven however is still an epic experience.
