A Brief History of... Myst

Everybody knows Myst. It's the one with the island and the puzzles. But the story neither starts nor ends there. We trace nearly 30 years of developer Cyan's history from its humble beginnings into a garage and through the rise and fall of one of gaming's greatest success stories.
Twitter: @ludodrome
Music:
no more sandlots by Uncle Milk
/ unclemilk

[@EricAAnderson]

Cyan's Art Director here. Well done - Great video... lots of good memories in there...

[@ludodrome6110]

+Eric Anderson Thanks so much! That means a lot to me coming from someone so closely involved. Finally played more Obduction and it's fantastic, btw.

[@EricAAnderson]

Awesome, thanks!

[@treadtrick]

Mayor Josef concurs!

[@purplexenno]

Let me start by saying that I'm one of those die hard fans that ludo talks about at the beginning of the video. So much so that i still use my copy of Uru! thank you so much for such a wonderful and heart touching series of games. (yes i have all the Myst games, I just mostly play Uru these days. Wish their were more shards though)

[@EricAAnderson]

Hey, thanks!

[@lexihaley2887]

"alternately timeless, and impossibly '90s" Nailed it.

[@rvbzero7]

no.

[@IceLordCryo]

me and my dad would spend HOURS playing Myst together when i was a little kid. I have very fond memories of this game

[@rasgal1912]

So would my dad and I! Those are some of my favorite memories. . . .

[@DiegoAlanTorres96]

I remember trying Riven once with my dad, It's one of the only two-three PC games he knows.

[@MusikPetrus]

Me and dad have played trough Riven, Myst 3 and 5. Great times. I have an especially sweet memory of those rides in riven

[@Ben-hv5vn]

Same

[@henrywalton5967]

Same!! Will do the same with my son one day haha

[@scottrousseau496]

This was amazing. It's 2019 and I remember playing MYST on my little apple computer. Late nights and long days. It took me 6 months to complete...without help! The opening music, the game's score, and the stories and worlds bring back many great memories. I played all of the series, good and bad. I played URU live to the bitter end. I remember the fun and excitement as each new area opened. The atmosphere was contagious with all the players in D'ni. Running around looking for friends, parties, and new discoveries. I get nostalgic now when I go back. Obduction was a blow away! That was hard, but very satisfying to me. Crazy ending. Now Firmament! The ending is INDEED not yet written. I started playing MYST in my 30's. I'm now in my 60's and still look around the corner for the next adventure. Thank you Rand, Cyan and company. The ride has been so exciting. I long for what is next!

[@sanctufilms]

Shorah! I'm with you every step of the way, Scott. Started in my 40s with MYST, spent time in the cavern as Stejovis, became a Maintainer, enjoying Obduction and signing on for Firmament. The ending has not yet been written for me either (in more ways than one).

[@0v_x0]

that's the spirit. if you don't fill half a notebook with arcane symbols and scribbled maps and shorthand, you're playing it wrong. that's half the fun is discovery of what seems impossibly cryptic but is totally integrated and logical. that's where these games differ from a lot of point and click adventures. although today there are more than ever, some great indie titles all over the map, have a few to play, replay or finish sitting in my steam library. I missed the uru servers by a year, :(, but still really enjoyed it with the bundled expansions. the graphics still have moments of inspiring awe. I played all the games, not all in order, and read the books, and have been a cyan fan since playing the manhole on my dad's old work mac sitting on his knee, over 3 decades ago.

[@0v_x0]

Obduction is worth playing twice! The story is so complex but so airtight yet told so subtly you really have to work for it. Plus an update added some more accessible areas to look around and figure out exactly what happened. Looking forward to playing Firmament, which apparently came out last year(?? where was I?), and whatever may come next. Lattice? We shall see.

[@millsykooksy4863]

This is so sweet

[@JesusKrispies]

2004 Ubisoft killing an online "live service" project in order to focus on single player titles may be the most delicious irony imaginable in light of its current business practices.

[@MidoriMushrooms]

I came down here to say the same thing. That is the most bitter-sweet joke I will hear all week.

[@ZemplinTemplar]

Very ironic indeed. :-(

[@ThePreciseClimber]

Everything changed when Assassin's Creed attacked. AC's evolution into a live service is quite interesting, actually. It started out as a 100% single player game. No extra missions, no DLCs, nothing. Its only online functionality was patches. But then, AC2 added pre-order missions and DLC sequences. ACB introduced multiplayer with free DLCs. ACR added MP DLCs you had to pay for. AC3 added a premium currency to the multiplayer. AC4 introduced the time-saver packs. ACU added online co-op, booster packs and made the premium currency usable in single player. ACOr went all out with premium currency items. And, finally, ACOd made level grinding a chore.

[@ellebee2419]

As with the original Myst being limited to the cd-rom drive speed, early online games were limited to peoples broadband deals. I suppose at the time the numbers just were not there to justify the costs of developing a game so many wouldn't be able to satisfactorily play.

[@rstones78]

It's like Kodak sticking with film

[@solidsnake58]

I finished Riven without a guide! Probably one of my proudest gaming achievements : )

[@BigGator5]

Really?! Are you willing to solve the world's problems next?

[@solidsnake58]

LOL. It was actually easier than the Maze Runner from Myst. I think I still have my paper notes. As a gamer who started with Pac-Man and finished Red Dead Redemption 100%, I still contend that Riven is the most satisfying ending to any game I've ever played.

[@squamish4244]

My god! Run against Trump in 2020.

[@SonataFanatica]

That's really amazing. I've had Riven for nearly 11 years and it frustrated the hell out of me. Then I found the LetsPlay series of one Dilandau3000 and he did the whole thing SO passionately, that I just had to watch it all the way through. So... while I'm a bit ashamed to have watched it instead of played it, it opened my eyes to the Myst lore and made me happy. :)

[@BigGator5]

SonataFanatica Right. Sven is pretty cool!

[@heatheralyce5800]

I was 5 years old & LOVED watching my dad play this. I didn’t understand the game... I just loved the music, and the talking guys in the books 🤣

[@liberator6]

My dad was a world-builder on Riven. It was really cool to see the game take shape behind the scenes, and that didn't detract at all from the fun of finally getting to play it. This video brings back lots of memories!

[@MrBROTHERFELDER]

Disney once considered turning Discovery Island at Disneyworld into a realistic land of MYST.

[@0v_x0]

well that was a Myst opportunity

[@0v_x0]

seriously though that would be awesome and would be the sole reason I can think of to visit Disneyworld. alas.

[@cubicinfinity2]

I'm kind of glad they didn't. I wouldn't want Myst to become a cartoon character any more than it already has.

[@nancyhey1012]

@@0v_x0😂

[@KororaPenguin]

Given what Mickey Hawkchow did to the Galaxy Far, Far Away, I'd say, "Bullet dodged."

[@sabinew239]

My parents got their hands on MYST in 1995. I was 4 years old at the time, too young to comprehend the puzzles, and yet I watched in fascination how my parents struggled for hours trying to solve them. I'm 28 now and still very much captivated by MYST and its sequels. The intro of Atrus falling into the fissure gives me goose bumps. Sadly, I haven't found many others sharing the same kind of passion. Many people haven't even heard about this once best-selling game, and I find it doesn't get the credit it deserves for all the milestones it brought to the gaming industry. That being said, I absolutely ADORE MYST - I rebuilt the island in Minecraft once with semi-working puzzles. Thank you, Robing and Rand, for blessing us with this great creation. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the many worlds of Myst. And thanks for Ludodrome for putting this lovely masterpiece of nostalgia together. Really enjoyed watching it!

[@202cardline]

I am like you, I was a little kid when I played these with my mom (But in hindsight maybe my 'help' for Myst and Riven was...limited lol) and I'm 24 now. I think about these games all the time, and never met anyone my age group who knows about them - I guess it wasn't really made for my generation and I got lucky. Also I'm not saying Myst solely inspired me to be an artist, but I am a professional artist now and Myst was definitely a big part of my life.

[@PikaLink91]

I didn't discover Myst until my late teens (I'm 30 now), but I fell in love with its lore and universe immediately. I'm an idiot, so the puzzles are too obscure for me even now, so I experienced the whole series via Dilandau3000's let's plays, but even though I wasn't playing but just along for the ride, I still immensely enjoyed every aspect of these great classics.

[@ASH-vz4ue]

What a nerd

[@DownHillSkateTime]

im 32 and was just barely old enough to sink my teeth into it when it was big in the 90's. Its impressive that anyone younger than me is even aware this existed. People who were into this game when it came out would be around 40-60 years old right now (assuming player base back then was approximately 16-36 y/o) !! Crazy how time flies..

[@ShoelaceManiac1]

I had the same experience with my dad way back in the day. The puzzles looked impossible to me at the time. Cut to yesterday, where I bought the remake on steam, and beat it the same day. Haha

[@dancingman2561]

The fact that these people are still around and working warms me up inside

[@EnderCrypt]

"the smartest way to run a business is with someone else's money, but the most satisfying way is to use your own." - Rand Miller

[@Novasky2007]

Aka -Please crowd fund me im broke now and don't wanna loose my home.

[@silenthill4]

There's a reason debt to equity ratio is a thing. Using your own money is bad when you're expanding

[@adamrobledo684]

That freaking art style is so unique. That 90s 3d style gives me such a strange vibe but it’s so good.

[@robbradley1337]

"Myst is lessened when it's familiar." Alas, truer words have never been spoken. I get goosebumps just thinking about the time I've spent in the various Ages. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, Myst is part of who I am as a person. I refuse to give it up.

[@robertanderson6929]

Just hearing the Cyan theme brings back lots of fond (and frustrating) memories of exploring and puzzle solving. To this day, my favorite games are the ones that don't "push" me but rather let me play at my own pace and figure stuff out they way Myst did.

[@r.kapaun01]

Obduction was so much larger and deeper than I thought it would be. Cyan's return to form. Looking forward to their next project!

[@TheDominitri]

I remember playing Uru Live around 2011 and the game was largely empty, but I went through all the worlds and once while visiting the cavern I heard some people chatting. I wandered into a room that was normally empty but was full of about half a dozen people and it turns out I stumbled into a weekly D'ni language class where the players taught each other the D'ni language. I stuck around for the last bit of class and chatted with one of the guys, really nice and inviting bunch!

[@djaydeved]

i to remeber those days back in 2010 or so p played uru and watched Dilandau3000 and shady parodox do lp on all the myst games

[@coffeepigeon8490]

I replayed uru live just a few weeks ago, but found out that they stopped uru live and that the servers there now are fan servers (according to my mother). So I tried Uru: Complete Chronicles which is basically uru live,just without other players. That's when I realised that since they stopped uru live, some of the things in the adventures were missing. I love the myst series. I plan to play Riven and Obduction soon

[@SomeKindaSpy]

Oh that's just beautiful.

[@justsomeguy8385]

that's pretty gay

[@sanctufilms]

I was a regular in the cavern in 2007 when things got so crowded you could hardly make a move due to lag. But that year was the high point of gaming for me. It was a little before social media took off, so fan activity in and out of game was intense. For me, nothing better before or since.

[@LadyWildlower]

You could say that for Cyan... the ending has not yet been written.

[@LorenHelgeson]

Admiral Hackett I hope so. Myst has one of my absolute favorite stories in any game, and I wish nothing but continued success for the creators.

[@ZeldaMOMOe]

MAN YOU MADE ME TEAR UP

[@cubicinfinity2]

haha yes

[@bennylloyd-willner9667]

True. Now, in 2024, we are eagerly awaiting Riven Remake. I waited 4 years from crowdfunding to actually getting Obduction, and I will gladly wait until they are ready to publish the Riven remake 😊

[@teelio2000]

These were made for Oculus Rift and touch~ that's what is missing! re release as an immersive virtual game... How cool would that be! I remember thinking that when I first played Myst back in the early 90's, I wish I was in the world~ You had the canvas back then, you just didn't have the crayons. :)

[@azraelle6232]

They were limited by the technology of their day.

[@spacegrass6632]

@@azraelle6232 thats exactly what hes saying

[@arglebargle17]

@@azraelle6232 Not limited now. I bought and played through Obduction and thought it was back to feeling like the original Myst, just updated... then I forgot I had the game until just a few months ago when I bought a VR ready laptop and an Oculus Rift. Obduction looks simply stunning, especially the opening sequence. I also got a good laugh watching the 7 year old daughter of a friend wander around my living room holding the visor to her face with one hand and one controller with the other. I watched her get up on tip-toes to try to touch things only she was seeing, or crouch down to get a better look at something. She was adorable expressing all the wonder of dropping into a Myst world.

[@silenthill4]

RealMyst

[@VtwinGamingKimico52]

it really would be a perfect platform to reboot in VR with a few updates here and there

[@kaylawilson4207]

I just beat Myst for the first time the other day (I clearly wasn't smart enough as a kid), Myst definitely got me into the point and click genre that I have been really into as an adult.

[@TashaJoanWheelhouse]

I want you to know I love rewatching this documentary you’ve put together for comfort. The Myst series is one I grew up with and bonded with my parents over.

[@VoxStoica]

Really enjoyed your "brief" history of Myst, it must have taken ages to put together, thank you.

[@E231986]

"ages" ...I see what you did there

[@cybergeek11235]

I boo your pun, friend.

[@pabloschweinsteiger3954]

You myst of seen it coming…

[@asherwoodrow7471]

@@pabloschweinsteiger3954 This pun has me screaming and crying on the floor as i contemplate life.

[@julienj9163]

It's impressive how Riven remains such a beautiful game.

[@veru6907]

I don't think Myst aged badly at all. I am only 18 but I've been playing games from the 90s or early 2000s my whole life and I love that kind of style. I think Myst looks great, even after almost 30 years.

[@jordanneal576]

The Myst games mean a lot to me. I've been playing them since I was a kid, and they were some of my first introduction to the level of story telling that games can provide, as well as an introduction to puzzle solving.

[@BigStupidJellyfish3]

Loved it. I'm a sucker for retrospective videos and this one was really good. I hope you'll make more in the future.

[@DoctorTex]

I still remember when I first played the game. I open it up and I see this book falling through apparently space. When it landed and I clicked on it, I was enthralled when the mystical music began playing as I saw an impossibility, a moving picture on paper! The first moments of a game should be powerful to get you invested, and this one delivers.

[@Jade-pd3wm]

My husband and i would often play this long into the night. Loved them. I am currently waiting for Titanic Hope and Glory as a new explorer solving game.

[@brensorell3893]

Oh my gosh, did you play the old titanic game that may have come out around then? I was OBSESSED with that game. I thought the graphics were SO cool!

[@SnakeWasRight]

I fucking LOVED the Manhole.... that sounded wrong...

[@LovelyAnimals]

when I was little my dad played this with me. He would set aside time on the weekends to play with me (he did most of the controlling). I am unsure if we actually figured it out. But it was so fun.

[@xxv8539]

no one cares

[@SenkJu]

@@xxv8539 Why would you say that?

[@DoctorWhy777]

wow. this is amazing.. thank you so much for your (possibly your teams) hard work putting this video together. I love this series and I love your documentary on this amazing art!

[@JosephDavies]

As someone who's been a fan of the series from the beginning and followed it through the good and bad times, I really enjoyed this retrospective. You covered all the important parts, and even shone a light on a few details I'd missed or forgotten over the years. This was a truly professional documentary of the series and the company.

[@Dachusblot]

Great video! I'm a huge Myst nerd so I already knew a lot of this stuff, but I never get tired of watching cool retrospectives about Myst. The series needs more appreciation! I think a lot of people who only played the first game and gave up when the puzzles got too hard, have no idea how in-depth the worldbuilding and storytelling really is.

[@jasonvoorhees895]

That game was mindblowing when it came out. Playing the original Myst in a darkened room, alone, was probably the most totally immersed i had ever felt in a video game environment up to that point. One of my favorite worlds. I still think that as video games go, it counts as one of the best pieces of art I've ever seen. Personally, I didn't think of the puzzles as arbitrary. I thought of them as an extreme quirk of the way the inhabitants thought and existed, which made exploring their island that much more bizarre. Even read a big chunk of The Book Of Atrus standing in the aisle at Waldenbooks lol. Then I sold my gaming gear and never got to the other titles. I only ever knew about the first 3 and the others are new news to me. Many years later when I started playing again I could see Myst's influence on other games. Knowing that this thing went on for so long means that there really was a world in there inhabited by people I'd never know, with a history I'll never discover. Freaking awesome!

[@jarjarbinks978]

Fantastic video... utterly speechless. You gave me a new discovered love for the game series, the genre, but most of all for the developers who built these worlds and introduced us to a new way of gaming and exploring. thanks for this nostalgia trip. thanks for this amazing video about my favorite games with which I grew up with!

[@Aster_Risk]

Thank you for this video. I love listening to videos about games/gaming history while I'm at work. You have a very pleasant voice, so it makes it even easier to listen to.

[@roninharriet4886]

I'm currently playing the 2021 remake of Myst and it's so cool to hear the history of this world!

[@xenos76]

I couldn't ask for a better narration of the story of Myst development. I didn't even know half of these games existed!

[@Tadesan]

Thanks for being so candid about your core concept this episode . I’m completely sold.

[@Hal_T]

Excellently done! Best retrospective of Myst I've ever seen.

[@forteprotze]

This was a really really good video. You deserve more subscribers, man. You put a lot of effort into your videos. I'm surprised you dont at least have 1,000.

[@carloslopes1140]

Oh i remember playing a LOT of "Myst III:Exile" in my younger days, i even had a notepad to draw and try to solve the puzzles =D I miss the old "think for yourself" when internet was not around

[@Novasky2007]

Them feels the first time you make it thru the underground maze using only your brainpower.

[@0v_x0]

@@Novasky2007 I wonder how many millions of hand drawn maps of those tunnels have ever existed. I probably still have one in a notebook.

[@Novasky2007]

@@0v_x0 indeed, they don't make puzzle games like they used to

[@0v_x0]

@@Novasky2007 they're staring to again, fortunately.

[@JeffDeWitt]

This kind of video is one of the reasons I love KZbin. It's informative, very well done, high production values, and it's the kind of thing that just would not have been done in the old days. Good job!

[@BlueEternities]

Fantastically put together. I played 1, 2 and 3 at least once. Myst and Riven were a part of my childhood that I'll never forget. You did a great job commemorating them. You chose many of the scenes that I remember most vividly from my time playing. = ) Thank you!

[@goddesszippy]

My dad randomly got this game for me in like '95??? for my sega saturn. Idk.. I just remember playing this (confused) and the way this game presented itself by just throwing u in...I remember hoping this was the game that would take me physically to a "Narnia". I felt like no one else had this game because of how strange and real it was.

[@NeilRoy]

Oh, and I completed Obduction and absolutely loved it. I am currently replaying through it again and would love to see more from Cyan, either original or additions to current works. Also, a TV series would be interesting, but I would love to see a Myst (or series of Myst) movies based on some of the game's story lines. For me, the first and the forth could easily be combined into one movie, where you think you trapped the evil sons, only to discover they escaped and then the dramatic change of heart like the end of Myst 4 would make an excellent end.

[@TheRedRaven_]

The original Myst will forever be imprinted into my brain, I was just a child who was lucky enough to play it on a pc that was considered "average" by 1993 standards. It was a strange gap where I went from playing Nintendo games to this, the entire DOS games library simply fascinated me and Myst was one of those games that encapsulated early 90's pc gaming.

[@vwfanatic2390]

That was delightfully satisfying. Thank you for producing this wonderful trip through my nostalgic memories of this incredible game, and the rich history of its producers journey.

[@RichardGming]

"Brief" I loved this video, it gave me chills the whole time, and made me emotional. Myst was what I played as a kid. Thank you so much for making this video.

[@aJoats]

Heck yeah... @40:59 I got a big grin on my face, a generation of gamers raised on MYST making their own games (promptly followed by a "f***, i'm an adult now, how'd that happen..."). And then he rolled the MYST/cyan intro with that iconic music... hit me right in the feels.

[@francescopaolucci7533]

it's been a long time since I have watched a video 45 minutes long. The all story is really involving, but you did a great job in managing it!

[@SpaceCattttt]

45 minutes is nothing! What would you do instead? What's so important that you can't spend less than an hour learning shit?

[@AaronCarpenter-LegendaryLion]

Really great video man. Very nice documentary of the evolution of the game series. Your video, probably expectantly, brought on a lot of nostalgia and took my back to a time when gaming was much more of a collaboration between the designers and the gamer's imagination. I really enjoyed every minute, thank you.

[@Nurdse_326]

44:21 - oh man. THAT screen alone brings back memories. 😊 Thanks for this fun nostalgia trip. Myst, Riven and Exile all hold a special place in my heart and always will.

[@anthonybaruch8618]

I love hearing everyone talk about there Myst experience, because its usually a good memory that they shared with someone and changed them for the better.. amazing game, amazing series.. Riven/Myst are definitely my favorite.. still gotta play obduction though

[@RinoaL]

at my dad's company, in the printshop, is a big RIVEN poster somebody got at some printing convention. kinda funny.

[@bowendesign]

Thank-you for this. Real trip down memory lane, could even remember all the nooks and crannies in Uru as your video guided us around. Liked and subscribed!

[@astralelements]

Really enjoyed this. Incredibly insightful and as a hardcore fan, appreciate its non-biased criticism. Extremely well done and thorough.

[@daves7828]

maybe my favourite game series / fictional story of all time!! love the games, love the books, and loved the video!

[@coffeetime1001]

I’m a fan of Myst. This is an amazing documentary!

[@JimCarnicelli]

Thank you. This is an excellent documentary. I never played the games but was always intrigued. This is exactly the sort of thing I wanted to learn about the franchise. Great job.

[@sanctufilms]

Truly an excellent review. Even handed, telling it as it was, and as it came to be all the way to Obduction. I came on board with MYST in '93 and have never left. Today there's one week left of the Kickstarter drive for Firmament due in 2020 and your review is a spark plug; great to see this. Thanks for doing this.

[@niteshades_promise]

this and doom/quake was life in the 90's pc life.🍻

[@NicholasSilva1380]

I'd include X-Wing and Tie Fighter

[@likethedrinkbutspelleddiff4605]

Also duke nuk em

[@daishoryujin95]

The yin to the yang of pc games

[@hobbes8737]

hexen was superior !

[@niteshades_promise]

@@hobbes8737 beyond heretic!🍻

[@LetsReadPodcast]

These are great videos man. I'm sure they take a ton of work. Would love to collab together on a horror and/or scifi series in the future :)

[@matthewshinn5839]

you make great videos I watch them often good narration and interesting content

[@saturnargentavis1901]

A lot of work? He says at the start he just takes it from Wikipedia which is wrong a lot of the time anyway

[@maxcarruthers4570]

That's just a sarcastic joke.

[@valletas]

@@saturnargentavis1901 its a joke

[@plazma704]

Wooooosshhhh

[@PriestofKahooli]

Thank you so very much for this video Ludo. This brought back fond memories of 1993, a veritable landmark year for me. Myst was absolutely unknown to me. It was the title that grabbed my attention and it was added to my shopping basket along with Rebel Assault, also released that year. The PC (with a friggen CD-Rom!) and these two titles were the very first Christmas gift I bought myself for that year with my first December bonus from my first job! Oddly, it was Myst that received more game play from me than Rebel Assault. That music was so immersive! Iconic is an understatement. I got goose flesh just listening to the familiar tracks on this vid!

[@casefc3s]

Actually got a little teary-eyed here and there throughout the video. Wonderful trip back to some great times, nicely done!

[@100Wilbur999]

Awesome stuff dude! I hope to see your channel grow!

[@sequoiahughes8536]

Ah, playing Riven in the late 90s on my Performa 6400 off 5 CDs. Good times. It wasn't until Portal (1&2) that I ever enjoyed a PC game as much

[@rahmreekoo86]

This video was incredible! Thank you for giving it so much justice.

[@MikrRice]

This was an entertaining watch and is the most complete telling of Cyan's history I've seen. I'll keep an eye out for the next episode once Firmament is released!

[@monsieurouxx]

8:22 "it's debatable how much they succeeded in that"... *Well*, it was the first time ever that I was literally going "Ooooh, I get it now, it makes perfect sense" in an adventure game. While leaving strictly no room for random puzzle-solving.

[@NielsC68]

I played Myst on my Amiga, the rest "obviously" on PC. It's some of the most awesome gaming series memories for me.

[@solidsnake58]

Wow. What a fantastic, detailed retrospective. Thank you!

[@johnwood406]

There was nothing better than that lonely haunting music, the quiet background and that weird feeling you got as you were going through people's notes, letters, and hints, all alone in that original myst adventure. It was an escape, an adventure, and a work of visual, and musical art blended in a way that made you sad when you completed the journey. Thanks for the memory.

[@yuothineyesasian]

Not a die hard fan but I remember playing when I was 7-8 yrs old. What an experience!

[@Lachlant1984]

Where did you get the remastered stereo music from? It's beautiful. I have the Masterpiece edition of MYST and my family owned the original version in the late 90s. Such an iconic game.

[@naytron210]

Wonderful. Thank you very much for this retrospective. I remember being a kid and seeing MYST for the first time. It was the moment I realized that games could be so much more than just toys: deep and serious, an unmatched medium for compelling story, and challenging for the mind as well as the digits. It really was the reason I became so interested in gaming in the first place, and I am sure that there are many game creators, story tellers, and other creatives in my generation who have very similar stories. The island, as eclectic and dense as it is, feels like a cherished memory of a real place from my young life, and when I go back and play again, it really does feel like I'm going back to that mysterious and magical place I used to vacation and dream in when I was young.

[@amarug]

awesome video, thank you very much for putting the effort into it. myst has left deep imprints in my childhood. i really got drawn into the other worlds and thinking back at riven especially, it honestly feels more like a real place i visited than just a game i played.

[@AstOnokGaming]

i still cant believe that you have under 100 000k subs. fantastic work

[@ludodrome6110]

+AstOnokGaming working on it!

[@AstOnokGaming]

youll get there man. based on quality alone

[@awesomeferret]

AstOnokGaming he does have a microscopic amount of videos, but even so, the quality of those few videos are so good that I'm surprised that he doesn't have at least a few thousand.

[@kokerSzpaner]

Totally agree, maybe because it's a niche game after all and as such there is not much sex'n'violence involved. It's a surprise still how such a mysterious puzzle adventure game can be successful with sales!

[@squamish4244]

It might be niche now, but as VR gaming expands seen as prescient. A lot of people who want to immerse themselves in fantastic worlds without hyperstimulation, shit blowing up etc. Or even beyond gaming, as a method of teaching or therapy.

[@TomorrowWeLive]

I first played Myst IV: Revelations because my uncle had left a copy at my grandparents house. I had absolutely no idea what was going on, and I never managed to get far (being a dumb kid). But the atmosphere and setting stayed with me ever since.

[@irondinos]

Awesome video. Very informative. Riven was my only experience of this series, but the tone, visuals and ideas have stayed with me ever since. It was great to see all the history I never knew. I may have to dig out my old copy again and jump back in.

[@jackie87430]

I thoroughly enjoyed this video! Thank you so much for making this :D

[@sreamer17ydr]

Amazing documentary on the history of Cyan and the game Myst. I love the series, was too hard when it came out on PC for me, but now I love the series, but never played Myst V, its too like Uru and I like to stay in the 'canon' games of Myst 1-4. Also, on other games LIKE myst, you said not many came out, which is right, but TWO great games that came out that are like myst, and are point and click.... Sierra's Lighthouse: The Dark Being, and Hue Forest's Amber: Journeys Beyond. Both games came out long time ago, I still play them to this day, Amber I love more than Lighthouse, but both are amazing games! I wish HD versions of Amber / Lighthouse would release.... never will happen (Hue Forest went under after Amber) and I don't see Sierra digging out Lighthouse from the crypts lol!

[@0v_x0]

might have some luck with emulators, a lot of old sierra games can be played that way

[@helperfunction4981]

This looks like a professional documentary. Keep making these and you will build a portfolio that will impress even the guys at Discovery Channel. If they're hiring just send them a link to your youtube channel.

[@darjiaethera]

Listening to those themes gave me shivers. Those games were really important to me when I was younger. Nice video!

[@gsevolved]

Thank you for sharing this. Sweet memories of long ago. Countless hours spent. What fun it was!

[@Novasky2007]

I finished Riven without a guide! and i played thru Uru complete on my own and wrote an in game journal no one will ever read. It was like exploring a long dead world. As i fell into the void i realized the book would not be destroyed as i had hoped.

[@ZenithMusicNet]

I truly believe that such a breathtaking place as Riven could exist on this planet.

[@ericandmoah]

This was fantastic, thanks for putting it together. My Dad and I played this when I was just a kid, and I believe it was my first foray into PC gaming. (I think he might still have the notebooks we filled to document our notes in the games) I've played all the games and read the books since. The lore is incredible, the immersion at the time of release was unmatched.

[@not28]

Excellent synopsis. I've been a huge fan of Myst since the original and followed the series since. Thank you.

[@cryptotharg7400]

I loved Myst. Hell, I bought Myst-3D! Myst gave me the taste for adventure games that I will never get over, I hope!

[@H31MU7]

Hell yes I'm looking forward to Firmament.

[@Adam-io9lw]

Great video! I loved the 3 novels, and I was 12 when I played the first game. The concept of writing the linking books and all of the world building Cyan achieved is amazing. I hope that one day we will have a game that truly realizes that huge dream Cyan had originally.

[@AmigosRetroGaming]

This is fantastic. Thanks so much for putting this together.

[@troyh3628]

To this day I will never know why I chose to read the novel before I actually played the game since I don't read novels, but it made my experience so much better.

[@troyh3628]

@@humblejunks Hence why I now think the novel should be required reading prior to playing. Though it begs the question if Atrus and Katran were good people how did their sons become so devious? I haven't played Riven so I don't know if this ever gets answered.

[@troyh3628]

@@humblejunks You make a good point. Without naming names World War II comes to mind. You'll also be delighted to know that this is also the first time I've ever spoken to someone else who has read the books.

[@alexandrite3208]

Mid 90's - Long day, now kids in bed, wife reading, I pour my scotch, headphones on. MYST, the best "decompression" from a stupid work day. Now I hear about sequels ?

[@Cole-ek7fh]

Alex Andrite there's 5 myst games.

[@0v_x0]

now you can play riven on your phone! lol no swapping CDs or load screens. or wait for the realtime 3D coversion at starryexpanse.com it's at least worth playing riven, preferably with a notebook and screenshots rather than a guide, one way or another. one of the best games ever developed IMHO (it helps to brush up on the basic backstory of Myst tho). you're in for a treat discovering it later :)

[@CallMeKes]

Thanks for this video. I have to say, from the title, and being unfamiliar with your work, I was expecting a video on the lore. But this was just as good and did include some lore so that's awesome. A Brief History of...Cyan might have been more accurate though. Not complaining, as I enjoyed the video a lot. Just a thought. I LOVED that bit at the end where you wet from a scene in their latest work to their old, familiar logo. I squealed a little, not embarrassed to admit it.

[@doctajonz2828]

Well done, thank you for producing this. I played MYST as a kid in 1993 only to download realMYST for iPad just recently. Brings back a lot of memories and I’m excited to replay one of my favorite childhood games.

[@ExMachina70]

12:42 Okay I loved MYST but screw them and this part for making it look like a puzzle but being nothing other than items that light up with you touch them. A fool like me can spend hours trying to solve a non-puzzle.

[@Mrizzo6870]

the map actually gave you hints if you stopped when the line turned red and you walked around the center portion of the tower.

[@philipritter3642]

@@Mrizzo6870That's not what he means, he means the light up gemstones in the Mechanical age. Check the timestamp carefully.

[@BigGator5]

Great video! However I think you did miss an opportunity to say "...the ending has not yet been written." at the end. That one line is both chilling and hopeful at the same time.

[@fCauneau]

So many thanks for this great work !! This movie was missing, thanks for it !! Now we still miss the Myst movie by itself ;-)

[@rogerwilco2]

The combination of the sound and the full screen, no HUD, graphics, created an immersive experience like no other at the time.