In 1993, Myst was quite the craze and conversation of many cubicle workers on their break. It held the record for most PC games sold until the Sims came out seven years later in 2000. Its debut was also one of the crucial events that helped attract timid consumers to CD-ROM technology.

Myst was produced by Cyan, a startup company that was founded by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller. It was Cyan’s fourth project and carried on their tradition to entertain without violence.

Unlike its predecessors, Myst was Cyan’s first game aimed primarily at adults, and its creation helped make popular a tradition of nonviolent adventure games. Many clones were soon created and bought by consumers who sought to reclaim that first Myst experience. Some of these games were Lighthouse, Dive, The Seventh Guest, The Crystal Key, Amerzone, Reah, Obsidian, and the Journeyman Project series. Although no matter how good or bad these atmospheric adventure games were, Myst was still the standard that critics compared them against.

A parody was even made called “Pyst,” that attempted to piggyback on Myst’s success and was nothing more than a marketing ploy for a poorly designed game.

Then in 1997 Cyan released “Riven: The Sequel to Myst.” When asked about Riven, the Miller brothers said that they thought of it as their “Lord of the Rings,” while “Myst” was more like “The Hobbit.” In the full experience, if Myst taught you how to walk, than Riven taught you how to fly.

Although Riven did not compare to the sales of its predecessor it was still the best-selling computer game of 1997. At present Myst and Riven together have sold over 12 million copies.

Over the years three novels were written by the Miller brothers that fleshed out the storyline, filled in background on characters, and created for the series an incredibly deep lore.

In 2000 Cyan produced Realmyst, the original game envisioned anew in full 3D and enhanced with changing weather and time of day. It became a novelty to the fans of the series and a tribute to the original.

Then in 2001 Ubisoft was licensed the rights to Myst and produced “Myst 3: Exile” countering the Miller brothers’ initial plan for Riven to be the last game in the series. In the same year Cyan, now Cyan Worlds, produced Uru as a distant edition in storyline. Originally intending for the game to be a MMOG, massive multiplayer online game, Cyan Worlds was unable to get the financial backing and instead refurnished it to a single player game.

Ubisoft, in 2004, produced a fourth game in the series called “Myst 4: Revelations” and last September Cyan Worlds was able to put a sense of closure on the series they created by producing the final game “Myst 5: End of Ages.”

“The Miller brothers are geniuses.” Dreamworks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg said to http://blogs.mercurynews.com.

Before Myst 5 there were four different adventures…

*MYSTFinding an old worn book called Myst, you read its pages which describe a strange island. Your reading reveals only descriptions of this weird island, like large gears, a half sunken ship, a clock tower, and a perched rocket ship. Turning upon the last page you find a picture of this island, and as you accidentally rest your hand on the picture the world goes black around you. At the sound of water lapping against the wooden dock beneath your feet you appear into the very world you were just reading about. In the library you find a large bookshelf of burned books, and on either side it is a blue and red book on the pedestal in the wall. Opening either book reveals one of Atrus’s sons who is alive and imprisoned inside. Both tell you that their father trapped them in the prison book for greedily destroying the ages in the bookshelf their father had written into existence but that only the other brother is guilty.

*RIVENAfter helping Atrus in the last game he commissions you enter his father’s Prison, an age called Riven that is quickly falling apart on itself. It is an inhabited age, a first for Myst games, which is ruled by his ruthless father, Gehn. You are given only a few errands besides solving puzzles after entering into this vibrant, photorealic and large world: find Catherine, Atrus’ missing wife, trap his father in a prison book, and somehow find a way to get out. Yes, just a few measly errands. Easy, right?

*EXILEYears later, Atrus invites you to explore a new age he wrote to be the new home of the D’ni refugees, but right before you both are about to enter into Releeshan a mysterious man named Saavedro; played by Brad Dourif of Dune, Aliens Resurrection, and Lord of the Rings; violently appears and steals it away leaving his linking book behind for you to follow. Leaving you follow him into this unknown world. The game improves the classic point and click system of movement allowing you to look around yourself in full 3D. Exile is relatively easier than the previous two games in the series but has its fair share of challenging puzzles.

* REVELATIONSRevelation is in the humble opinion of this author the best game in the series. Visiting with Atrus and his family you discover that his sons are still alive and his Father has created a way to link to the prison ages they were once trapped in. Then disaster strikes and you must enter those worlds to save the family. With a deep story, amazing graphics, and beautiful worlds to explore be sure to keep an eye on the clock when you play because time has a way of quickly slipping away.

Myst 5: Reviewing the legacy

If you are looking for a way to leave your world behind then “Myst 5: End of Ages” is the game for you. It is an atmospheric adventure game, and the final release in a series to which all others of the genre are compared. With amazing visuals, exquisite sound, and a decent storyline, it is very easy to get lost in gameplay.

“End of Ages” carries on the tradition of the series in the fact that you are allowed to teleport to other worlds, called Ages, by touching the picture in linking books that you find.

The game starts with Yeesha, daughter of the late Atrus, who commissions you to set free the slave race of creatures called the Bahro. This quest is accomplished by unlocking a large carved rock called the Rosetta Stone, and this is achieved by finding four tablets that lay hidden in four corresponding Ages.

Gameplay consists of exploring vibrant worlds in first-person view and solving puzzles to progress through them. After you find the tablet in an age you can use it to communicate with the Bahro you meet by carving symbols into it. These symbols prompt the Bahro to manipulate the world by causing it to rain or initiate other forces of nature. This comes in handy when you need wind energy to power a machine, or water to solve a puzzle.

Your guide in the game is a man named Esher who appears at opportune times giving storyline and advice. He also once undertook the same quest but failed, and one is left to wonder if he has his own agenda in helping you.

“End of Ages” is the first game in the series to be done in real-time 3D. For the first time, players can freely walk around and enjoy the world. Past Myst games consisted of pre-rendered vibrant backgrounds that you traverse with a simplistic point-and-click system.

In the game there are three modes of control: one that uses the “awsd” keys of games like “World of Warcraft” and “Counterstrike,” the classic point-and-click, and a hybrid of the two. One nice feature is that you can also easily change between the three modes and use the one that best suits your surrounding.

The defining moment of the time I spent pl
aying the game was when I walked into an Age called Todelmer. It consists of large stone spires that stretch a hundred miles above the planet’s surface. You are so high up that the curvature of the planet can be seen, and with the lack of atmosphere space is quite visible. Bright gas nebulas and stars adorn the sky, and as you step from the portal your screen is filled by a large ringed moon that dominates the landscape.

Amazing!