Though you may not realize it, the beauty of modern games owes its existence to the stunning landscapes of Myst. Myst raised the standard to unparalleled heights and is more detailed than many of the games of our age. At the time, graphics weren't greatly thrilling. Consequently, it had a great impact on my gaming tastes. Myst was one of the first games I ever played, back in 1997 when I was 6. If you like puzzling and exploring, this is for you. The puzzles may be a bit too hard as mentioned before so you may need a walkthrough at times. The graphics are also surprisingly beautiful and combined with the realistic sounds it really gives you the feel of being alone on a deserted and surrealistic island. The game can be completed in different ways but only one is the correct one (That's up to you). You need to explore everything to gain all clues and solve all puzzles. The puzzles are challenging and fun (you may find them too difficult at times, though) but if you concentrate on them and think logically and look for relations between things you'll find the solution eventually. In each age a blue (Sirrus) and red (Achenar) page is hidden and a linking book back to Myst. You need to travel to all the different ages (worlds) of Myst by finding the linking books in which these worlds are described and retrieve the pages torn from the books to take them back to the library. You'll soon find out that there are two brothers called Sirrus and Achenar trapped in books and you need to free them but they but both blame each other for being a liar so who's right and what about Atrus and Catherine, their parents? That's for you to find out. Therefore if you are an action gamer stop reading otherwise read on. This way the (brilliant) story slowly unfolds. Instead of fighting baddies you are totally alone on this island and you have to find clues to discover what happened and solve puzzles to progress. This makes it fresh and unlike anything else. When this was released, it was not like other point and click adventures such as Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion, but a first-person view game so that YOU become the protagonist. Video games turned into board / card games.The world of Myst is mostly uninhabited, and the game has very few live-action scenes with characters and dialogue. Rather than collecting items and using them to solve puzzles, the player must gather subtly placed clues and manipulate complex mechanical devices in order to advance in the game. The game's interface is reduced to a single cursor for navigation and interaction. Through Myst Island, the game is further divided into mini-worlds set in different ages accessed through different books. There are no enemies and it is not possible to die. The game is presented as a series of static scenes where the player acts with the environment by clicking and manipulating objects. Magically transported into the world described in the book, he needs to explore Myst Island and solve its mysteries. Myst is a first-person point-and-click adventure where the player controls a character known as The Stranger.

Now you're here, wherever here is, with no option but to explore. Suddenly your own world dissolves into blackness, replaced with the island world the pages described.

But it's just a book, isn't it? As you reach the end of the book, you lay your hand on a page. Reading through its pages provides you with only a description of an island world. You have no idea where it came from, who wrote it, or how old it is. You have just stumbled upon a most intriguing book, a book titled Myst.

Myst 1993