Others say...

"An immersive classic."
Released back in 1995, Myst is a classic game that revolutionized the gaming industry. Rand and Robyn Miller created a new type of game which diverted from the typical mass market and took off into a fascinating and innovative direction. It's hailed as a landmark in the industry and praised for both its aesthetics and story.

I think that Myst is best described as an experience rather than merely a video game. Its creators strived to develop a world rich with detail and intrigue, with a subtle narrative intertwined into the strange yet beautiful surroundings. As the game begins, you are dropped onto the island of Myst without very much information to guide you. What immediately strikes you as unique about this experience is that there are no friendly characters to help you on your way, no enemies to fight, and not a very clear purpose. The game is largely about just exploring your surroundings and experimenting with different devices around the various worlds. This is what makes the game so immersive. The graphics of Myst, though not quite as extravagant as today's, were definitely of high quality. Cyan built its 3D world through an extensive layout of still images and QuickTime movies, and the end result is simply amazing. Navigation is node-based, meaning that you don't necessarily walk through the environment but rather point and click your way through your surroundings. Each new section loads as if you really had relocated, giving the appearance of movement. Making a 3D world in this manner might seem strange, but at the time it was a necessary shortcut to make it possible to run the game on computers without a lot of RAM and processor power. Even by today's standards, I still think the environments look impressive.

So what exactly does the gameplay entail? As you explore the island, you discover two journals with missing pages, each of which belong to Atrus's sons, Sirrus and Achenar. Your main objective is to travel through the different worlds, or Ages, and retrieve the missing pages from each book. As you recover each page, you learn more about each brother, and you must try to discover who is lying and who is telling the truth. In the end, it will be up to you to decide their respective fates. Your journey is not easy, for you will have to solve rather challenging puzzles in order to progress throughout the worlds. This can often be frustrating, for the puzzles' solutions are not always intuitive. It will take much patience and observation, and perhaps even a little help.

The sounds in this game are mysterious and enchanting. The soundtrack consists of strange, sometimes haunting tunes that blend in remarkably well with each respective area. Moreover, the sounds are integral to the gameplay, for some of the puzzles involve listening in addition to seeing. You will need to observe and interpret different sounds and apply that information to the challenges you face. This is yet another way in which you can truly become immersed within the game. The music makes your surroundings feel foreign and believable.

Myst was groundbreaking for its time, and it started an incredible journey that would spark several sequels. It's an experience that is visually, musically, and intellectually stimulating, and though the game is a bit dated now, I still think it's worth playing if you enjoy a good challenge. As many have mentioned, the ending is somewhat anticlimactic, but at the same time it will most likely make you want to continue the adventure with Riven.

"Best game ever made!"
Thinking on buying this game? Do it! Do it now! This game is the best thing I've ever played, and will be for a very long time! If you're into anything visual, then this game has you written all over it. The graphics are great! If you have an older computer with an operating system such as 95-98 it should run really well. And if you really want to get into it then I'd recommend buying 'The Book of Atrus' wich is a novel to go with the game.

"Excellent!"
One of the best adventure games ever! Shame it's for older computers and it makes me miss mine. If the gaming companies ever remake Myst for XP I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

"bring me the blue pages"
myst is strictly a one-player game, other players can play when your journey has been "saved". i preferred two-player games like mortal combat where the action is fast and someone "wins". the style of myst is "point and click" and your pace is self directed. having a high patiance level is paramount if you want to finish myst. once you solve all the puzzles and reach the end ....the game loses its appeal. this review might sound pessimistic, but i think its real in its approach. as the sequalls evolved, so did the hint books. i personally disagree with the whole concept of a "hint book". its self defeating by having the game "spoon fed" to me. i actually liked myst but i still wouldnt call it "fun"......"fun" is a two player game of mortal combat (at least you get to say i whipped your ***)

"A legend in video gaming"
After Myst, the whole series became my favorite games to play on my computer.
The worlds were simplistic but amazing. My personal favorite was Channelwood because I'm a nature-lover like that. Selenetic kind of irritated me though--at the time that I first went through this game, I had no musical knowledge, causing it to take forever for me to figure out the keyboard thing to get to the linking book into the Age (however now I know enough about music that doing this puzzle is much easier). Then I was further irritated to find few other things I had to do to get through and out of the age. Mechanical was frustrating because rotating the building is a lot more difficult than it is in the simulator. Stoneship was fine except the battery ran out and the lights shut off on me a few times, but I suppose that was my own fault.
There was also another quirk that still bothers me now--once you do the game once, it's five times easier to do again. (Myst players: Know what I mean? Future Myst players: You'll see what I mean)
Also, there was another thing that kind of inhibited my gaming experience the first time I went through the game that I suppose was my own fault: I was nine or ten years old at the time. This meant that A) I had little logical capacity, which made the game much more difficult for me, B) I had little to no appreciation for beauty, which made me just want to beat the game and be done, C) I didn't fully understand the plot, and D) I was an extremely impatient little brat at the time.
Frustrating things aside, I give Myst 5 stars because it is an amazing game and a prelude to an even better series. However I wouldn't recommend it to a nine or ten year old, because they would become frustrated very quickly. The Myst series would generally be for more patient people like me who like to sit in front of their computers for hours figuring stuff out, exploring every nook and cranny of different worlds, and marveling at the genius who has a big enough imagination to come up with things like this.