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Myst Was Supposed To Change the Face of Gaming. What Is Its Legacy?

Posted by Soulskill on from the i-still-don't-know-where-i'm-supposed-to-go dept.

glowend writes "On 24 September 1993, computer users were introduced to Myst. Grantland takes a look at the game's legacy, two decades on. Quoting: 'Twenty years ago, people talked about Myst the same way they talked about The Sopranos during its first season: as one of those rare works that irrevocably changed its medium. It certainly felt like nothing in gaming would or could be the same after it. Yes, Myst went on to sell more than 6 million copies and was declared a game-changer (so to speak), widely credited with launching the era of CD-ROM gaming. It launched an equally critically adored and commercially successful sequel, and eventually four more installments. Fans and critics alike held their breath in anticipation of the tidal wave of exploratory, open-ended gaming that was supposed to follow, waiting to be drowned in a sea of new worlds. And then, nothing.' Why didn't Myst have a larger impact?"

4 of 374 comments (clear)

  1. The graphics were simply brilliant by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 5, Interesting

    And turned brass was everywhere. I loved the puzzles, the incredible transport monorails, the sheer quiet brilliance. And quiet it was, and cerebral. Still looking for something quite that good again.

    --
    Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
    1. Re:The graphics were simply brilliant by Another,+completely · · Score: 5, Interesting

      What killed Uru for me was that it stopped being pure puzzle-solving, and added technical run-and-jump obstacles. Sure, sometimes the solution was to push a chair off of a cliff above to create something to step on in the water, but then they also required pressing the jump button at just the right time. The brilliance of Myst and the sequels was that you had all the time in the world to think about the puzzle, and when you knew the answer, you could pretty much get it to work first time. Another great thing about it was that nobody ever explained the rules, and it wasn't always obvious whether an object represented a puzzle that would help you progress, or if it was just an interesting piece of scenery.

  2. Re:Better games came along right after? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I blame Doom for unintentionally being the spark responsible for the stagnation of the entire video game industry for many years, spawning an ever-increasing multitude of insipid, uninspiring, mindless FPS where the only thing that ever improved were the graphics the video card could pump out.

  3. Re:What? by magarity · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yep; the graphics were pretty but single solution set-piece puzzles are not all that fun. Myst was a tedious exercise in figuring out exactly in what order to do what the designers wanted you to do.