History Videogame / Myst

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In a series that aims for immersion as a first priority, the original version of this game has much simpler environments with a lot heavier usage on simple shapes in the scenery, such as cone-shaped trees and utilizing simple "wipe" effects for sliding doors. In addition, the original version of the game spelled D'ni as "Dunny", and simply referred to Atrus's home world rather than also doubling as the name of his race.

* AdultFear: Knowing your sweet innocent children grew up to become corrupted, criminal psychopaths. This is Atrus's excuse as to why he really really hates (And procrastinates) going back to Myst Island. Too many painful memories.

* PlayableEpilogue: After the good ending, you can return to Myst Island and continue exploring the Ages. The original game doesn't have anything new, but ''realMyst'' adds the Rime Age and ''realMyst: Masterpiece Edition'' unlocks some Easter eggs.

[[folder:Tropes Found in ''Myst'' and its {{Updated Rerelease}}s]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler: The brothers each consider each other's motives (Sirrus's greed and Achenar's bloodlust) to be beneath contempt, despite them working together.]]

* GuideDangIt:
** Thanks to an error in transferring the text over from the original, ''Myst: Masterpiece Edition'' has in-game text that lists a wrong solution for the game's final puzzle. You either have to deduce the correct solution yourself (which might take a while, depending on how quickly you realise that the text has an error) or use a guide.
** The problem listed under SoundCodedForYourConvenience.
** Getting into the Selenitic Age requires memorizing specific musical notes and finding them amid a bunch of other notes. Really difficult if you do not have an ear for music.

* ThePlace: The title of the game is named after the starting hub level, Myst Island.

** You can also do this to get the bad endings, [[spoiler: particularly the two that free Sirrus or Achenar. Turns out their books only ever needed the final page behind the fireplace in order for them to be freed]].
** The 2020 remake has an option to randomize the solutions to puzzles, so if you wanted to speedrun the game as such, you'd still have to figure out what time to set the clocktower to, find the [[spoiler:marker switch with the white page]], then [[spoiler:find the code for the fireplace and enter it]].

** There's an EasterEgg reference to ''Mythbusters'' hidden away in [[spoiler: the docked ship's crow's nest]] in ''[=RealMyst=]: Masterpiece Edition'', reachable only in free-roam mode.

* ItIsPronouncedTropay: {{Retcon}}ning the location of the Cavern from the Middle East to the Carlsbad caverns changed the pronunciation of "Tadjinar" (a town in ''Book of Ti'ana'') to "tahd-khee-NAHR" and of "Amanjira" (a person there) to "ah-mahn-KHEE-rah".

* GameBreaker: The Selenitic Age is notorious for its sound-based puzzles that are nigh impossible if you don't have a good ear; even the rocket ship entry puzzle is terrible. The updated version made in Unity has [[spoiler: an option for context-dependent subtitles - turn them on and the exact name of the noise is present. This includes the ''specific'' keys you need for the piano puzzle, and every noise present in the underground maze (the second one is still reliant on you going to the Mechanical age to figure out what sound goes with what direction, but it can give you the name of the noise there, too)]].

* GameBreaker: The Selenitic Age is notorious for its sound-based puzzles that are nigh impossible if you don't have a good ear; even the rocket ship entry puzzle is terrible. Updated versions of the game have [[spoiler: an option for context-dependent subtitles - turn them on and the exact name of the noise is present. This includes the ''specific'' keys you need for the piano puzzle, and every noise present in the underground maze (the second one is still reliant on you going to the Mechanical age to figure out what sound goes with what direction, but it can give you the name of the noise there, too)]].

* SoundCodedForYourConvenience: The Mazerunner in the Selenitic Age uses sounds to guide you along the correct path. Unfortunately, unless you've already been to [[spoiler:the Mechanical Age]], you'll have to figure out for yourself what the sounds actually mean. [[spoiler:In the Mechanical age, the same sounds are used to indicate which direction the fortress is rotated, and stand for the same cardinal directions.]] Or you can learn by trial and error.

* UpdatedRerelease: Three times. First, there is ''Myst: Masterpiece Edition'' which updated the graphics to 24-bit color (as opposed to 8-bit color in the original) and added a hint system. Then there's an update of the remake, ''[=realMyst=]: Masterpiece Edition'', which added a few more bells and whistles to ''[=realMyst=]'' and provided more modern graphics. And in 2021, the game was completely remade using the Unreal engine and released for the first time on console.

*** Gehn's military coat buttons are vintage Soviet cockade badges, along with dragon-and-shield-motif brass buttons that have both been turned upside down, and the gold leaves adorning his coat are gold-bullion "scrambled egg" leaves.

* DummiedOut: The original game has an unused screen showing the small checkerboard in Sirrus' room in the Mechanical Age opened to show a music box mechanism. This was finally implemented in ''realMyst: Masterpiece Edition''.

** A remake built on Unreal Engine was released for use with the UsefulNotes/OculusQuest on December 10th, 2020. A version that supports other PCVR headsets and standard monitor play is set to be available on August 26, 2021, alongside releases for the Macintosh and the UsefulNotes/{{Xbox|One}} [[UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS consoles]].

* UpdatedRerelease: Twice. First, there is ''Myst: Masterpiece Edition'' which updated the graphics to 24-bit color (as opposed to 8-bit color in the original) and added a hint system. Then there's an update of the remake, ''[=realMyst=]: Masterpiece Edition'', which added a few more bells and whistles to ''[=realMyst=]'' and provided more modern graphics.

** A VR remake was released for UsefulNotes/OculusQuest on December 10th, 2020, with a version for PCVR headsets planned for the near future. This remake also serves the a basis of a non-VR version that is set to hit Windows PC, Macintosh, and UsefulNotes/{{Xbox|One}} [[UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS consoles]] on August 26, 2021.

** A VR remake was released for UsefulNotes/OculusQuest on December 10th, 2020, with a version for PCVR headsets planned for the near future

** A further remake was announced in September 2020, this time with [[UsefulNotes/OculusRift Oculus Rift]] VR support.

There are also several tie-in novels, authored by the Miller brothers themselves[[note]]Well... it should be noted that while the by lines say Rand (and Robyn, for the first one) Miller ''with'' David Wingrove, it would be more accurate to say that the novels were written by David Wingrove under the Millers' supervision. The fact that by the third book Cyan was too busy with Riven to really rein him in is something of a sore spot among the fans[[/note]]. ''Myst: The Book of Atrus'' tells the story of Atrus's early life with his grandmother Anna and his father Gehn. ''Myst: The Book of Ti'ana'' tells the story of the downfall of the D'ni (so this takes place before the Book of Atrus). ''Myst: The Book of D'ni'' tells of Atrus's attempts to find D'ni survivors and rebuild the D'ni civilization. And finally, ''Myst: The Book of Marrim'', which seems to be permanently mired in DevelopmentHell, though a preview chapter was released with the European Special Edition of Myst V. A fan-produced webcomic adaptation of ''The Book of Atrus'' is [[http://mystcomic.smackjeeves.com/comics/ in progress here.]]

* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: A firm 0 on the scale. The game is as devoid of violence (and action) as you can get for a video game.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler: The brothers each consider each others' motives (Sirrus's greed and Achenar's bloodlust) to be beneath contempt, despite them working together.]]

** Getting into the Selenitic Age requires memorizing specific musical notes and finding them amid a bunch of other notes. Really difficult if you do not have a ear for music.

* {{Irony}}: D'ni, the age where Atrus was trapped in the first game, is actually [[spoiler:Earth, the very place the player is trying to return to, though there's no way to know that in the game itself.]]

* ItsAWonderfulFailure: Go to D'ni without the white page (a type of {{Unwinnable}} situation), or bring all of the pages [[spoiler:to either brother so you get trapped in the book yourself.]]

* MultipleEndings: All but one possible ending involve [[spoiler:the player [[AndIMustScream trapped in a linking book with no means of escape]]]].
* NonStandardGameOver: Because you can't die, the only way to "lose" at the game is to either quit the game or [[spoiler:give either of Atrus' sons all of their respective pages or enter the Green Book without bringing the White Page to give to Atrus. And the former two just sends you to a black screen after the cutscene and lets you reload your last save from there.]]

* PoorCommunicationKills: Atrus wouldn't allow his sons to go anywhere near the red and blue books, and never bothered to explain why. Unable to resist the possibility of new worlds to plunder and destroy, they did it anyway, only to realize too late that the reason he wouldn't let them use them was because they were trap books. Though ''Myst IV: Revelation'' reveals that at that time, [[spoiler:they were planning to magic Atrus' knowledge from him]], so it's just as well.

* SequelHook: The good ending contains several blatant ones for ''Riven'', [[spoiler:with Atrus mentioning to the player that "an even greater foe" awaits them in the future.]]

** You can also do this to get the [[spoiler:bad endings, particularly the two that free Sirrus or Achenar. Turns out their books only ever needed the final page behind the fireplace in order for them to be freed]].
* ShoutOut: The never-seen Osmoian Age, mentioned in the Channelwood journal, is a nod to Cyan's earlier game ''VideoGame/CosmicOsmo'', which was set in the Osmoian solar system.

* SoundCodedForYourConvenience: The Mazerunner in the Selenitic Age uses sounds to guide you along the correct path. Unfortunately, unless you've already been to [[spoiler:the Mechanical Age]], you'll have to figure out for yourself what the sounds actually mean. [[spoiler:In the Mechanical age, the same sounds are used to indicate which direction the fortress is rotated, and stand for the same cardinal directions.]]

* TreeTopTown: The Channelwood Age. Originally it was just a how the tree people lived, but later the treehouses became necessary when the island sank into the water.