Myst is a 1993 adventure video game created by Cyan and released by Broderbund for Mac OS. In the game, players use a special book to travel to a mysterious island named Myst. Players explore the environment and interact with objects by clicking on computer-generated pictures. Solving puzzles allows players to visit other worlds called "Ages," which explain the characters' past and help players decide who to help.
The game's creators, Rand and Robyn Miller, began their careers by making simple, black-and-white games for children. They wanted Myst to be a visually striking game with a complex, mystery-filled story for adults. The game's design faced challenges due to limited computer memory and slow CD-ROM drives. The game was built using Apple Macintosh computers and the HyperCard program. Later, versions for other platforms required developing a new system.
Myst was very successful and well-received. Critics praised how the game made players feel like they were part of its fictional worlds. It is often called one of the most important and best video games ever made. Selling over six million copies, Myst was the top-selling PC game for almost a decade. The game encouraged the use of CD-ROM drives, led to the creation of a multimedia franchise, and influenced many other games, books, and media. Myst has been adapted for many platforms and remade several times.
Gameplay
Myst’s gameplay involves a first-person journey through an interactive world. Players can interact with specific objects on some screens by clicking or dragging them. To move, players click on locations shown on the screen; the scene then smoothly changes to another frame, allowing the player to explore the new area. The game includes an optional "Zip" feature that helps players move quickly across areas they have already visited. When a lightning bolt cursor appears, players can click to skip several frames and move to another location. While this feature allows fast travel, it may cause players to miss important items or clues. Some items, such as journal pages that provide background information, can be carried by the player. However, players can only carry one page at a time, and the page returns to its original location when dropped.
To complete the game, the player must fully explore the island of Myst. There, the player finds and follows clues to travel through "linking books" to several "Ages," each of which is a small, separate world. The Ages—named Selenitic, Stoneship, Mechanical, and Channelwood—each require the player to solve a series of connected puzzles to complete their exploration. Each Age must be explored to solve the main puzzle of the game on Myst.
In addition to its focus on nonverbal storytelling, Myst’s gameplay differs from other adventure games in several ways. At the start of the game, players receive very little background information, and no clear goals or objectives are provided. There are no visible enemies, no physical violence, no time limit to finish the game, and no risk of dying. The game progresses at its own pace and is solved through careful observation, patience, and logical thinking.
Plot
Players take on the role of an unnamed person who discovers a strange book titled "Myst." The player reads the book and finds a detailed description of an island world. When the player places their hand on the last page, they are taken to the island described and must explore it. In the island's library, two books are found—one red and one blue. These books are traps that hold Sirrus and Achenar, the sons of Atrus, who once lived on Myst Island with his wife, Catherine. Atrus created special linking books that transport people to the Ages described in the books. From their books, Sirrus and Achenar tell the player that Atrus is dead. Each brother blames the other for the death of their family and the destruction of much of Atrus' library. Both ask for help to escape. The books are missing pages, making the brothers' messages unclear and filled with static.
As the player explores the island, they find more linking books hidden behind puzzles and complex mechanisms. The player must visit each Age, find the red and blue pages hidden there, and return to Myst Island. These pages are then placed in the corresponding books. As more pages are added, the brothers become clearer in appearance and sound. After collecting four pages, the brothers tell the player where the fifth and final missing page for their book is hidden. If the player completes either book, the brother will be freed. The player must choose whether to help Sirrus, Achenar, or neither.
Sirrus and Achenar warn the player not to touch the green book near their final pages, claiming it is another trap. In reality, it leads to D'ni, where Atrus is imprisoned. When the book is opened, Atrus asks the player to bring him a final page hidden on Myst Island. The game has several endings based on the player's choices. Giving either Sirrus or Achenar the final page of their book causes the player to switch places with the son, trapping the player inside the prison book as the son removes the pages. Linking to D'ni without giving Atrus the requested page traps both the player and Atrus in D'ni. Bringing Atrus the page allows him to complete his Myst book and return to the island. Upon returning, Atrus resumes his writing and lets the player explore Myst and its Ages freely. He also asks the player to stay ready for future help, as he is dealing with a greater enemy (setting up the story for Riven). When the player returns to the library, the red and blue books are gone, and burn marks remain on the shelves where they once stood.
Development
In the late 1980s, brothers Rand and Robyn Miller lived separately in the United States. Robyn was taking a break from university in Washington state, writing and trying to become a resident, while Rand worked in Texas as a computer programmer for a bank. Rand shared an idea with his brother: creating an interactive storybook using HyperCard. The brothers were not big fans of video games, though they knew about Dungeons & Dragons and had played Zork. In his parents’ basement—Robyn did not own a computer—Robyn began drawing pictures and designing a nonlinear story that became their first game, The Manhole. The Manhole and later games, Cosmic Osmo and Spelunx, were made for children. These games used black-and-white graphics, point-and-click gameplay, a first-person view, and explorable worlds. Robyn said the games focused on exploration rather than storytelling: "In the games for children, we didn’t tell stories… They were just worlds to explore."
Around 1990, the brothers wanted to create a game for adults. Their goals included believable characters, a nonlinear story, and ethical choices for the player. They pitched the game to Activision under the title The Gray Summons, but Activision told them to stick to children’s games. At that time, the brothers had financial struggles and ate simple meals like rice, beans, and government cheese. Facing the end of their game-making careers, Japanese developer Sunsoft asked the Millers to create an adult-oriented game. Like The Gray Summons, the game would have a nonlinear story, believable characters, and ethical choices. They also wanted better graphics than their earlier games, even considering a fully hand-drawn design. They knew the story would be a mystery.
Development of Myst began in 1991. The creative team included Rand and Robyn, with help from sound designer Chris Brandkamp, 3D artist Chuck Carter, Richard Watson, Bonnie McDowall, and Ryan Miller. Together, they formed Cyan, Inc. Myst was the largest and most complex project Cyan had tried. Cyan took inspiration from games like Zork, the mythic universe of Star Wars, portals in The Chronicles of Narnia, and mysterious islands from works like Jules Verne’s stories. The game’s name and the island’s atmosphere came from Verne’s The Mysterious Island.
Sunsoft focused on video game consoles, not PCs. Consoles had no hard drives and limited memory, so the game had to fit these technical limits. To solve this, the Millers divided the game’s environments into different sections called "Ages." The brothers believed puzzles should feel natural, like solving a circuit breaker at home, using observation and common sense. Cyan had no fans to please and designed the game for themselves. Rand said they aimed to balance puzzles, environments, and story. They wanted clues to be clear so players would feel proud of solving them: "If players blame us, we failed. If they blame themselves, we succeeded."
The Millers made a seven-page proposal for Sunsoft, mostly showing maps of the islands they imagined. Cyan asked Sunsoft for $265,000 to develop Myst, more than they expected but less than the final cost. Sunsoft asked if the game would be as good as The 7th Guest, another CD-ROM game. The Millers said yes. After approval, Cyan tested the game using role-played Dungeons & Dragons to find major issues before full production.
Myst was Cyan’s largest and longest project. The brothers spent months designing the Ages, which were inspired by earlier whimsical worlds for children. Much of the early work focused on puzzles and environments, with the story developing later. Rand said they were "place designers" who let maps guide the story. The plot grew as the environment changed, with new details added as buildings were created. They realized the setting needed more story and history than players would see. The ending with Atrus came later after they wanted a more complex conclusion. In hindsight, Robyn felt Myst did not fully achieve the emotional and ethical goals they had set.
Myst was made on Macintosh computers, mainly the Macintosh Quadra 700, using HyperCard software. Cyan found 3D rendering faster than hand-drawn designs, allowing color. Terrain for the Ages started with grayscale heightmaps, which were used to create elevation changes. Textures were painted onto landscapes, and objects like trees were added. Rand said attention to detail helped overcome CD-ROM and graphics limits: "Small details, like bumps on a tapestry or screws on objects, make the world feel real." Environments were made with StrataVision 3D and Macromedia MacroModel, with Rand linking images in HyperCard to test puzzles. The game has 2,500 frames, each showing a possible area. Some frames took hours to render, others days. Final images were edited in Photoshop 1.0.
Creating believable characters was a challenge. The brothers could only communicate one-way with players, and players could leave the game at any time. Video was not possible at first, but the release of QuickTime during development solved this. The original Myst version used HyperCard stacks for each Age. Navigation was handled by buttons and HyperTalk scripts, with plugins for images and QuickTime movies. Essentially, Myst worked as a series of linked multimedia slides.
Release
Myst was released for Macintosh computers on September 24, 1993. It was advertised with the phrase, "The Surrealistic Adventure That Will Become Your World." Sample discs with a demo of the game's Myst Island section were given out as previews. The game was later made available for Windows computers in March 1994. People learned about the game mostly through word of mouth, especially online.
Myst became very successful commercially. Before its release, the game's creator, Rand Miller, thought selling 100,000 copies would be amazing. Instead, the game sold twice that number in seven months. It quickly became Broderbund's most successful game, selling over 500,000 copies by the end of 1994 and more than 1 million copies by March 1995. It was the best-selling computer game in the United States for 52 months. By 1997, Myst had sold 3.5 million copies. Worldwide, it sold over 6.3 million copies by 2000, including more than 4.3 million in the United States. It was the best-selling PC game of the 1990s until The Sims surpassed its sales in 2002. Along with The 7th Guest, Myst was a very popular game that helped increase the sales of CD-ROM drives. It was the first CD-ROM game to sell more than 2 million copies.
Remakes and ports
Myst's popularity led to the game being moved to many different platforms. Versions were released for the Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation, Atari Jaguar CD, AmigaOS, CD-i, and 3DO consoles. A version for the Sega CD was created and shown by Sunsoft, but it was never released. A remastered version, called Myst: Masterpiece Edition, came out in 1999. This version had improvements, such as images using 24-bit truecolor instead of the original's 8-bit 256 colors. The music was remastered, and sound effects were improved. In 2023, fans created a version of the game for the Atari 2600.
A full remake of Myst, called RealMyst: Interactive 3D Edition, was made by Cyan and Sunsoft and published by Ubisoft. It was released for Windows PCs in November 2000 and for Mac computers in January 2002. Unlike the original, RealMyst used free-roaming 3D graphics and added weather effects, a day/night cycle, and a new Age called Rime. However, the game had performance issues on many computers at the time. Cyan said this version was what they would have made originally if technology had allowed. Robyn Miller later said the game and its marketing did not match their original vision for Myst.
In 2014, Cyan released a new version of Myst using the Unity engine, called realMyst: Masterpiece Edition. This version was updated to 2.0 on January 28, 2015, with better graphics and fixed bugs.
Handheld and mobile versions included a remake for the PlayStation Portable, released in Japan in 2006. This version included the Rime Age from RealMyst and better visuals. Similar versions were made for the Nintendo DS in 2007 and the Nintendo 3DS in 2012. In 2005, Cyan and Mean Hamster Software released Myst for Windows Mobile; Riven was later ported to the same platform. In 2008, Cyan announced a version for Apple's iOS, which was released in 2009. The original version was large at 727 MB. An updated version of RealMyst for iPad 2 and newer devices came out in 2012 with improved graphics. In 2017, a version of RealMyst for Android devices was released by Noodlecake, and a version of Riven was also released for Android. realMyst: Masterpiece Edition was released for the Nintendo Switch in 2020.
In 2020, Cyan announced a new remake of Myst for high-definition screens and virtual reality. The game uses free-roaming 3D environments created with Unreal Engine 4 and includes features like puzzle randomization. The version for Oculus Quest and Quest 2 was released in December 2020. It was later released for Windows, macOS, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One in August 2021, and for iOS in February 2023. An update to include the Rime world was added in March 2025.
Reception
Myst was widely praised by critics. Computer Gaming World told its readers that the game was different from other CD-ROM games, which were often "high on glitz and low on substance." The magazine said Myst was "everything it's touted to be" and called it the best Macintosh CD-ROM game. It praised the game's open-world design, the fact that players could not die, and its "straightforward and simple" story. The magazine said the "mesmerizing" and "stunning" graphics and sound were not the main focus, but the game's content was just as strong. It concluded that Myst would "set a new standard." In April 1994, the magazine called it an "artistic masterwork." Jeff Koke, who reviewed Myst in Pyramid #8 (July/August 1994), said, "It is the first adventure game in which I left feeling as though I had visited a real place."
Publications like Wired and The New York Times used Myst as an example of how video games could become an art form. Entertainment Weekly reported that some players saw Myst's "virtual morality" as a religious experience. Aarhus University professor Søren Pold said Myst was a good example of storytelling using objects instead of people. Laura Evenson, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, said games like Myst showed the video game industry was moving past its "adolescent" phase.
GameSpot's Jeff Sengstack wrote that Myst was an "immersive experience" that "draws you in and won't let you go." Greg M. Smith noted that Myst became a hit and was seen as very immersive, even though it used technology similar to a "slide show (with accompanying music and effects)." Smith said Myst's main strength was how it made the game's technological limits feel meaningful. Macworld praised Myst's designers for solving the slowness of CD drives, ensuring a smooth experience. The magazine called Myst the best game of 1994, saying it removed "the most annoying parts of adventure games—vocabularies you don't understand, people you can't talk to, wrong moves that get you killed and make you start over." Players could explore the island without time pressure or unfair punishments.
Some aspects of the game faced criticism. Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com said Myst's lack of interaction and fixed story contributed to a decline in the adventure game genre. Edge magazine said the game engine was not as advanced as the graphics. Heidi Fournier of Adventure Gamers noted some critics found the puzzles too hard or unclear, while others thought these elements improved gameplay. Critics were divided on whether the unchangeable story was a positive or negative feature. In 1996, Next Generation called Myst "gaming's bleakest hour," saying its static graphics and trial-and-error puzzles were poor design. The magazine claimed Myst's popularity among non-gamers as a CD-ROM showcase led to other games copying its flaws. In a 2000 review, IGN said Myst had not aged well, comparing it to "hit TV shows from the 70s" that people no longer watched.
Myst won the Best Adventure/Fantasy Role-Playing Game award at the 1994 Codie Awards. It also received an honorable mention in Electronic Entertainment's 1993 "Breakthrough Game" category, which went to The 7th Guest. The magazine said the Macintosh version of Myst set new standards for CD-ROM use. Myst was a runner-up for Computer Gaming World's 1993 "Adventure Game of the Year" award, losing to Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers and Day of the Tentacle (tie). In 1996, the magazine ranked Myst 11th on its list of the most innovative computer games.
Reviews of Myst's console versions reflected opinions about the original game. Critics agreed the 3DO, Saturn, and PlayStation ports were nearly identical to the PC version. Sushi-X of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the 3DO version a five out of ten, saying, "The graphics and sounds are decent but the game never really appealed to me on the PC." His co-reviewer, Danyon Carpenter, gave it a seven out of ten, saying, "This game was all the rage when it debuted on the PC, and that excitement should follow through on the 3DO." GamePro gave the 3DO version a perfect five out of five, calling it "beautiful and enchanting." The Jaguar CD version was largely ignored, but GamePro noted it was the same as the PC version, except for the lack of a mouse and longer load times.
The 3DS version received negative reviews, even from critics who thought Myst's popularity was justified. They said the graphics and audio were below the 3DS's capabilities and the controls were awkward.
Myst's success came from its wide appeal, high-quality visuals, low system requirements, and availability on many platforms. It showed that puzzle-focused games could be major hits. Some were surprised by its popularity, as it was seen as "little more than an interactive slide show." Newsweek compared Myst to "an art film" that would gain praise but eventually be forgotten. Others called it the "ultimate anti-arcade game" because it was relaxed, casual, and required no special skills or time limits. Myst was described as the "anti-Doom," contrasting with Doom's violence and speed.
After Myst's success, some developers tried to copy its style, leading to "Myst clones." Adventure game developers criticized Myst for inspiring many similar games that hurt the genre's growth. As the adventure game genre declined, some blamed Myst for focusing on visuals instead of storytelling. They said Myst had one of the worst endings in gaming and limited interactivity. Later adventure games like Grim Fandango, Blade Runner, and Gabriel Knight 3 failed to gain sales.
Game designer Josh Mandel said the blame for the genre's decline should fall on publishers, who expected every adventure game to be as successful as Myst. Edge magazine said Myst's impact was mixed but ultimately helped PC-based gaming. Myst changed how games used CD-ROM technology, moving from "games of emergence" to a new way of presenting stories through visuals and sound.