History VideoGame / UruAgesBeyondMyst

* FakeTown: The Age of Ahnonay is an island with several islands visible in the distance, some of which have buildings on them. When the player manages to calm the ocean currents and swim to them, however, they'll find that the buildings are just painted onto screens, and moreover, the islands and the sea around them are all part of a [[ArtificialOutdoorsDisplay gigantic artificial sphere]].

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: TheReveal that the islands around Ahnonay are actually [[spoiler: giant paintings]] is a subtle nod toward resource shortcuts that game developers usually take.

* TreeTopTown: Arguably the Age of Teledahn, though with giant mushrooms instead of trees.
* {{Uncanceled}}: The multi-player component was canceled before it came out of beta, but brought back to life a few years later by [=GameTap=] as ''Myst Online''. Then, after little over a year, it was canceled again. Then plans were announced for a version of the game using fan-made content... which was canceled. Cyan then decided to release the whole thing as open-source, and to just let the fans deal with it. After that, it was uncanceled yet again, and the service is currently free to play.

** The death of Willow "Wheely" Engberg in Uru Live, i.e. the slaughter of a teenaged girl, was roleplayed out over chat.
** When the player behind the character Pepsi in Uru Live died in real life, it came as quite a shock. Years later, in the D'ni Games (a fan-created Olympics-styled event) of Until Uru, the Pepsi Memorial Marathon was named in honor of her.

* ItIsPronouncedTropay: Averted, as D'ni names are rendered into the Roman script phonetically (by English's insane orthographic rules).

* RecursiveCanon: ''Uru Live'' accepts the LiteraryAgentHypothesis in regard to the early games in the ''Myst'' series. However, items from within those games appear "for real" within the game, such as the telescope from ''Riven'' and some of the illustrations from the books.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: A message from a DRC member reveals that a D'ni survivor with knowledge about the Bahro has been discovered in a house.

%% FakeTown: The Age of Ahnonay is an island with several islands visible in the distance, some of which have buildings on them. When the player manages to calm the ocean currents and swim to them, however, they'll find that the buildings are just painted onto screens, and moreover, the islands and the sea around them are all part of a [[ArtificialOutdoorsDisplay gigantic artificial sphere]].

* PotemkinVillage: The Age of Ahnonay is an island with several islands visible in the distance, some of which have buildings on them. When the player manages to calm the ocean currents and swim to them, however, they'll find that the buildings are just painted onto screens, and moreover, the islands and the sea around them are all part of a [[ArtificialOutdoorsDisplay gigantic artificial sphere]].

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Bahro Nekisahl.

** Eder Gira has a day/night cycle of about six hours.

** Ahnonay. How does one linking book manage to take you to three different eras, when all books up to this point could only ever take you to one? Well, [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope it doesn't.]] You eventually discover that the "age" is actually a bunch of three very convincing sets (and one unfinished one) contained in giant spheres connected to an even larger rotating mechanism.]]

Unlike previous games in the series, ''Uru'' is third-person, takes place in modern day, and you play as a custom created avatar instead of [[FeaturelessProtagonist the Stranger]]. The biggest departure though, was that originally the game was going to have an Massively Multiplayer Online component to it, where multiple players could work together to solve puzzles. This leaves you with a number of questions; like; why do you start in the desert?

Unlike previous games in the series, ''Uru'' is third-person, takes place in modern day, and you play as a custom created avatar instead of [[FeaturelessProtagonist the Stranger]]. The biggest departure though, was that originally the game was going to have an Massively Multiplayer Online component to it, where multiple players could work together to solve puzzles.

* AndYourRewardIsInteriorDecorating: Throughout the game are scattered pages that add decorations to the player's personal Relto island. Once found, these can be turned off at will. The more impressive ones are harder to find, as rewards for exploration or solving puzzles.

* SocializationBonus: Several puzzles (Eder Tsogal, Eder Delin, Ahnonay, and the pellets in Er'cana) were originally designed to require multiple players to complete. They were redesigned to be possible to complete solo once ''Uru Live'' fell through the first time. The pellet puzzle got the worst treatment. In the two-player version, [[spoiler:one player would drop a light-emitting pellet down to an unlit lower chamber. Another player would wait in the unlit chamber, and snap photos of the hidden images on the walls once the chamber was illuminated by the first player]]. But in the one-player redesign, [[spoiler:the links to the chambers are mysteriously set 14 minutes apart from each other. You have to drop a light pellet in, then go to the lower chamber and wait ''14 whole minutes of real time'' for the pellet to fall and give you 15 seconds of illumination]]. And to think, none of these avatars consider bringing along a flashlight...

[[quoteright:346:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uru.jpg]]

[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4ff4ee23557b257b22e1ae4fe1c33816.jpg]]

* ArtificialOutdoorsDisplay: [[spoiler: Ahnonay's "island" is actually inside a giant machine with rotating spherical chambers simulating different eras.]] Could double as a TrumanShowPlot if what [[spoiler: Kadish]] used it for is any guide.

* AllThereInTheManual: In honor of the ''Myst'' franchise's 25th anniversary, Cyan released documents that provided backstories for some of the Ages. They included information that never made it into the game and hinted at what players might have been able to do had the original vision for the game been realized: http://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CLy6MoOQ1kOUItSAZFjuab4alNAk25zm.

* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: Once you've got all the calendar sparks in Uru Live, the firewqrks continue even if you've got the rain on.

* EndlessDaytime: Teledahn's sun moves horizontally across the sky, never dipping beneath the horizon as it circles. Though evidence (images of the sun passing in ''front'' of some more distant landforms) indicates that it may an artificial light source, rather than the planet being [[Literature/MissionOfGravity Mesklin]] on steroids.

* [[MadeOfIron Made Of Nara]]: Your avatar can fall four stories without panic-linking and not be harmed.

* AbortedArc: Due to the cancellation of the multiplayer component, numerous plot threads involving Yeesha, the D'ni Restoration Council, the Bahro etc. were left hanging. When the multiplayer component was revived by GameTap, the plot threads picked up again with new content being released every week. Unfortunately, GameTap pulled the plug due to a lack of subscribers and the various storylines were abandoned once again.

* PunnyName:

* LeftTheBGMOn: That haunting melody in the Kadish Gallery? Is being played by a cannen upstairs.

* EndlessDaytime: Teledahn's sun moves horizontally across the sky, never dipping beneath the horizon as it circles.

* NoOSHACompliance: The DRC did its best with barriers and traffic cones, but the city's damaged structures would ''not'' be safe if panic-links weren't an option. Also, judging by most of his former properties, Kadish was never afraid of heights.

* SceneryPorn: The Garden Ages, the Kadish Gallery, and Ahnonay.