This sets you off on a journey to four more ages, unraveling innumerable (some might say infuriating) puzzles and gradually piecing together, almost entirely from environmental clues, what happened to this family, and whom among them you can trust. When you open it, you are transported to a mysterious island, and as you explore it you begin to uncover its history the story of its caretaker, Atrus his art of creating worlds, called “ages,” including Myst Island itself and his two sons, Sirrus and Achenar, who beg you to release them from the confines of their prison ages, where they have been entrapped for some unknown crime. The premise was deceptively simple: You are The Stranger, a person of inconsequential gender, race, or origin, minding your own business when a book falls into the black starlit void you call home. But in 1993, it was even more than that: Myst, it was said, was wiping the slate clear for a completely new direction in gaming. It’s more than a beginning, it’s a Pavlovian bell that tells your brain it’s time for an adventure. Enter the number of Marker Switches on this island into the imager to retrieve the message.įor the 6 million–odd people who have played Myst since its release 20 years ago, these images are as embedded in their memories as those seven immortal opening notes of Super Mario Bros. I’ve left you a message of utmost importance in the forechamber beside the dock. Lying to the side of the path is a weathered piece of paper. You make your way up to a walkway running parallel to the water and see a path constructed of what looks to be railroad ties leading up past the dome and toward another classical edifice.
Everything is disarmingly still, save for a pair of seagulls flying overhead in the hazy marine layer. To the left, you see a Greek-looking dome structure made of marble, and, as you turn 360 degrees to see your surroundings, there’s not a soul in sight. A hill rises in front of you, with what appear to be two giant gears perched atop it, and a short concrete staircase curves up the side. You are standing on a dock beside the jutting masts and crow’s nest of a sunken ship, water lapping calmly under your feet. Only your wits and imagination will serve to stay the course and unlock the ancient betrayal of ages past. Journey now to an island world surrealistically tinged with mystery … where every vibrant rock, scrap of paper, and sound may hold vital clues to your unraveling a chilling tale of intrigue and injustice that defies all boundaries of time and space.