realMyst

Overview

realMyst is real-time, fully 3D remake of Cyan Worlds' point-and-click adventure game, Myst. realMyst was intended to be closer to what was envisioned for the original Myst. realMyst was released in November 2000 for Windows and in January 2002 for Mac OS X. Unlike Myst (which had pre-rendered stills for environments), realMyst uses a free-roaming, real-time 3D graphics engine, which allowed the player to go through the game without having to stop and click every time they wanted to navigate their way through the environment. This 3D graphics engine is called Plasma and was considered ahead of its time, but was criticized for being too system-intensive. Most mid-ranged systems now can run the game smoothly without any real problems.

The 3D engine, other than allowing free-roaming through its detailed environments, allows effects such as weather effects, like thunderstorms, sunsets and sunrises throughout all of its ages, as well as realistic water effects, which add realism to the world of Myst. Mobile versions of realMyst use the Unity engine.

realMyst follows the same story as Myst, but adds a new special additional level called Rime, meant as an epilogue to Myst to introduce players to the age of Riven, from its yet unreleased at the time sequel, Riven: The Sequel to Myst. The game was developed by Cyan, Inc. and Sunsoft, and as published by Ubisoft, Mattel Interactive, and MacPlay (for the Mac version).

Reception

The reviews for the game were mixed. While some reviews complimented the game for its beautiful graphics and amazing atmosphere, a lot of the reviews complained about the tedious controls, its bad frame rates and that there is little reason to play it since its sequel, Riven, was already on the horizon as well as its high system requirements.

Digital Distribution and Masterpiece Edition

realMyst was re-released by Good Old Games and Steam with compatibility & support for Windows XP, Vista, and 7 for both 32 and 64-bit. An updated "Masterpiece Edition" was released in February 2014 with improved models and textures, dynamic environments, advanced graphical effects, and day and night cycles.