When Myst first hit the Mac and PC gaming scenes back in the early 90s, nobody expected it to be such a ridiculously grand mega-hit, but, well, quite obviously it was. The thing sold millions of copies. Millions! Must have been due to the MPC/CD fad it seems and the fact that adventures were having sort of a golden era did help quite a bit methinks, but oddly this weird first person point-and-click offering seems to still be selling and has already managed to make it into a Simpsons episode. Besides, it’s got legions of fans still waiting for another sequel and even craving for the URU experience. Impressive, really, and very very mainstream.

If you ask me, on the other hand, Myst with its static but breathtaking graphics, flick-screen progression, obscure mechanical puzzles, weird ambient sounds, lack of plot and huge success, was the worst thing to ever happen to adventures. It did away with story, became a hit despite that and went on to spawn a thousand sequels and rip-offs that quite literally drowned the scene. Then again it does remain -even to this day- a highly playable, highly atmospheric game. A good game.

And now, Myst made it to the Nintendo DS in the guise of the aptly named Myst DS and it still is as great an adventure as it used to. The graphics have been slightly compressed mind you, the controls do feel archaic and the small screens don’t really help with the immersion, but it still is the original Myst in your palm, which does feel kinda impressive. Just don’t expect anything new or any bonus content…

Posted on May 12th, 2008 by konstantinos