Myst V: End of Ages is the sixth game in the Myst series, and the final one. It was developed by Cyan Worlds, published by Ubisoft, released in 2005, and re-released on GOG.com and Steam in 2012.
Taking place sometime after Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, the player controls another modern day character instead of the Stranger. The new character is tasked by Yeesha, daughter of Atrus and Catherine, with restoring the power of the D'ni. To do that you must unlock the power of the Tablet, which will allow the D'ni to control a Slave Race known as the Bahro. To unlock the Tablet, the player has to travel to four Ages and collect four slates. Along the way the player is advised by Esher, another member of the D'ni, to not trust Yeesha.
Tropes in Myst V: End of Ages
- Artifact Title: Unlike the previous three numbered games, Myst Island does make an appearence, in one of the bad endings.
- Bait-and-Switch: Atrus's final note at the beginning strongly suggests that he is at death's doorstep. Yeesha even says that "...his time has passed" to the player. In a way, he is, but only in that he is very old, weak, and is now retired. He's actually just fine, and the "better place" that he goes to is actually Releeshahn, as seen in the good ending.
- Beastly Bloodsports: Laki'ahn was originally a "sport" age, where the natives, known as the Kresh, would fight gladiatorially against shark-like sea creatures called Laki for the entertainment of a D'ni audience.
- Broken Lever of Doom: In the ruined version of Myst Island, trying to lift the marker switch on the dock causes it to snap off.
- Covers Always Lie: A minor case since the cover seen in the page image implies that K'veer and Noloben are part of the same Age (though one could argue that it is more a case of Artistic License and is not deliberately misleading).
- Dimensional Traveler: Yeesha, the Bahro and Esher can all link at will. Escher gains the ability from a
squicky source: he wears a Bahro skin over his shoulder. - Elemental Powers: The Bahro can alter Age states to bring about specified environmental changes. In particular, in this game they can waken underground geysers to heat up a frozen world, summon gale winds or rainclouds, and even greatly increase the passage of time.
- "Far Side" Island: The endpoint of the age of Laki'Ahn is a tiny island some distance from the mainland. Treasures used to be kept there, and it's also where the Age's portion of the Keep is located.
- Hub Level: Direbo, once the bridge gates are unlocked, offers quick access to four parts of D'ni as well as the four quest ages.
- Go Back to the Source: K'veer.
- Inn Between the Worlds: Direbo, a rest age that could be visited by travelers on the outskirts of D'ni.
- Later-Installment Weirdness: Since it's partly also based on the short-lived Uru spinoff, this game carries a lot of major differences from the previous four installments, chief among them being that it's the only game in the whole series to use real-time 3D environments instead of pre-rendered. It's also the only game in the series where the player does not play as the Stranger.
- Mission Control Is Off Its Meds: Esher.
- Nostalgia Level: You start the game off in the D'ni prison that you ended the first game in. Myst Island also can be seen in either bad ending, albeit in complete shambles after years of neglect.
- Palette Swap: The planet Todelmer orbits is a ringed, cloudless, colder recolor of Venus.
- Perpetual Storm: Myst Island has fallen under this after centuries of neglect.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The Bahro fear the snakes of Noloben.
- Save Token: Your camera, which saves the game every time you take a picture.
- Scatterbrained Senior: Atrus mistakes Watson for a long-dead friend.
- Slave Race: The Bahro until you free them.
- Symbol Drawing Interface: The Bahro slates.
- Time Skip: The game takes place around 200 years after Revelation.
- Torture Cellar: Escher's "lab" in Noloben, though the actual torture area is at ground level.
- Treacherous Advisor: Esher is one. Yeesha as well, to a lesser extent; she doesn't deliberately mislead, but listening just to her side of the story may lead to mistakes
- Unbroken First-Person Perspective: Aside from closeups on island flyovers in earlier titles, this game features the only time this rule ever gets violated in the whole series outside of opening cinematics — the camera pulls back when riding an elevator in the Great Shaft.
