Myst '21

Yes, yes, I can hear your eyes rolling from here. Cyan's done gone and remade Myst AGAIN. Sure, they remade it from the ground up for VR, but surely they could have just done that with one of the realMyst games. As huge of a Myst fan as I am, when I first heard about this remake, even my first reaction was to raise a metaphorical eyebrow and ask "...ok why though?" It wasn't even a major anniversary. Even realMyst (the original anyway) had a raison d'être, serving as a makeshift test run for the development of the online spin-off URU. It all just smacks of being a cheap and needless cash grab meant to tug on our nostalgia...

...but god damn if they haven't gone and captured my heart all over again.

DEVELOPER: Cyan Worlds Inc.

PUBLISHER: Cyan Worlds Inc.

RELEASED: August 26, 2021

RATING: Everyone

AVAILABLE: Steam, GOG, Epic

PRICE: $29.99

I've made no secret of my love for the Myst series (well, 4/5 of it anyway). And it's true that I've played the original so many times I know the puzzles like the back of my hand. But, I'll wager you can quote all the lines from your favorite movie at the drop of a hat, but that still wouldn't stop you from watching it for the 37th time. Plus, since it was a complete remake for VR (though I played the "flatscreen" PC version), and not just a port, I wanted to see just how different this new version of Myst was from all that came before.

And I'm so glad I did.

The first thing you notice is just how completely and utterly gorgeous the Ages of Myst are in their new incarnations, with different weather effects for each Age, little details that add so much dimension to them, and just an overall photorealistic beauty very much on par with Riven and Exile. I may not have been playing in VR, but it still genuinely felt like I was really there in that rocket, on the deck of the ship, crossing the treetop bridges. It's no exaggeration when I say I was on the verge of tears the whole time I was exploring.

-You can see the oil from the machinery in the water in Mechanical

-Stoneship is enhanced with a huge, gorgeous sunset

-A deep fog now permeates Channelwood

-and Selenitic is looking a lot more blue than I remember.

That said, a couple of things do hamper the illusion slightly. Whenever anything makes a huge splash in a body of water (such as when you're raising a bridge), the splash effects, when compared with the rest of the world, almost look more like transparent PNGs of splashes rather than actual water. The biggest thing that takes away from the aesthetic though is the appearance of Atrus and his sons...or more specifically, their appearance as CG models, and while they're not the worst models ever made, they're certainly nowhere near as detailed as the world they inhabit. Plus, if, like me, you had no idea there were CG models present and you were expecting FMV sequences (even if re-used from one of the older versions of Myst) the first time you see one of them can be quite unsettling. Thankfully however, speaking of the older FMVs, there is an option to swap between them and the CG models.

A couple of examples of CG vs FMV

Sadly, the Age of Rime is nowhere to be found, (UPDATE 3/23/25: or, at least, it WAS; it's back now. Read what I think about it here) its absence made even more conspicuous by the appearance of a very clear pathway to the spot where you would normally enter it. Sure, it was only a minor Age from the realMyst remakes that only served to add a bit of extra lore, but it still would have been nice to see it, if only for a possible peek at what Riven would look like given the same face-lift.

The music in Myst '21 is as perfect as it ever was. I couldn't tell if it was a re-orchestration or not, but if it was it was so very close to the original as to not be noticeable. Sound effects, however, are a different story. All the sounds in the game have been changed in some way to make them more realistic, with the exception of the Linking Book sound, which is still as iconic as ever.

The voice acting is a slight letdown, though. The brothers Miller return as Atrus and his sons, both in the FMVs and with re-recorded lines for the CG models, and while Robyn's performance as Sirrus seems about the same as his previous appearances, Rand's take on Atrus just seems phoned in, made all the more puzzling when you consider his Achenar is just as crazy and unhinged as ever.

The "dentist chair" in the observatory seems to have been bifurcated since the last time I was on the island...

Now on to the gameplay. The puzzles remain largely unchanged from their original counterparts, with minor differences here and there, no doubt to allow for more immersion in VR, such as a knob to twist on the map in the library, a podium with dials rather than a box with valves for the clock tower, and so on. But there a couple of major differences.

First, you're no longer limited to carrying one page at a time, and that's across ALL Ages, not just each one. You could, if you so desired (and, in fact, I did) go through all four Ages, picking up the red AND blue pages from each one, before revisiting the brothers' books in the library.

You want pages, fine, HERE'S YOUR STINKIN' PAGES!!

Secondly, when I did a wrap-up video after playing through the entire mainline Myst series, one of the things I noted (as, indeed, did many others) was the fact that some of the puzzles, mostly those associated with the Selenitic Age, revolved around sound, meaning if you were hearing-impaired, you were quite possibly screwed. That, however, has FINALLY been fixed in Myst '21, with a toggleable option for "Context Sensitive Subtitles". When activated, anything that plays a sound that you would need to take note of will now display a subtitle describing that sound.

Not sure if you can tell, but the pipe water is, in fact, flowing.

The only other major change to talk about is the inclusion of the new "Puzzle Randomization" feature. Starting a new game gives you the choice of two types of puzzle: "Classic", i.e. how they were in the original game, and "Randomized". Don't get carried away, though. Despite how it might sound, the Randomized option does not suddenly turn Myst into a rogue-like, you will not be riding the Mazerunner in the Stoneship Age. Instead, it simply changes the solutions to each puzzle like, for example, the number of volts you'd need to power the rocket to Selenitic. The only Age that's pretty much unaffected is Channelwood, with the exception of one thing, and since I don't know how to mark spoilers here, let's just say if you've played Myst before, then we're on the same page.

Overall, even if you've already played a previous version of Myst, even if you don't have a VR set, I would HIGHLY recommend giving this new iteration a try. I ended the aforementioned wrap-up video giving my rankings of the Myst games. The original (bearing in mind this was before Myst '21 was even announced, and I played the original Masterpiece Edition) ranked 3rd for me, with the top spot, after spending a long time in my mind tied with Riven, eventually going to Exile. But I'd say this version puts the original far closer to the top, perhaps even in a tie for second. Regardless, in this humble Myst fan's opinion anyway, it is the DEFINITIVE way to experience the original surrealistic adventure that will become your world.

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