Just Adventure: Members' Adventure Game Reviews - The Definitive Myst-Like Game List (Graded)

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Topic: The Definitive Myst-Like Game List (Graded)

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All Forums : [Member Arena] : Members' Adventure Game Reviews > The Definitive Myst-Like Game List (Graded)

#1 9 JUL 2005 at 1:49am
SirDave Guild Master Posts : 4940 Joined: 17 OCT 2002 Location: US Status : Offline	The following is a list of games that are said to be Myst-like not because that while playing them they could be mistaken for the Myst games themselves, but because they more or less emulate the general design of the Myst games by incorporating most or all of the following features: 1st person perspective. Solitary adventuring with limited character interaction and limited or no dialogue. Puzzles at least or nearly as important as plot with plot often subtle or part of the discovery process. Limited or no inventory. Node-based movement with 2D graphics from slide-show (eg. Myst) to panned pre-rendered graphics (eg. Myst Exile). Putting together a list like this is not as simple as it may seem. Over the years since the release of Myst and Riven, players who like these types of games have had many varying opinions as to what defines a Myst-like game and which individual games should fit into that category. Some games will satisfy the majority of the criteria only to add things like perhaps a more extensive inventory or dialogue. Therefore another category has been added for those games that don't easily fit the main definition: BORDERLINE MYST-LIKE or CROSSOVER GAMES. Also, players who like Myst-like games often like games that are almost (or are) pure puzzle games. In fact, there can be differences of opinion as to whether some 'Myst-like games' are actually just puzzle games, so another category has been added for PUZZLE GAMES. Each game has been rated on a scale from 1 to 5 where 5=Excellent, 4=Very Good, 3=Good, 2=Fair, 1=Poor. Also, more recently released Myst-like games using 'true 3D' realtime rendered graphics are indicated by: (3D). THE MYST GAMES (not rated) -------------------------------- Myst (1993 Cyan) Myst Masterpiece Edition (Myst 'Enhanced':1994 Cyan) RealMyst (Realtime 3D Edition of Myst: 2000 Cyan) Riven (1997 Cyan) Myst III Exile (Presto 2001) Myst IV Revelation (Ubisoft Montreal 2004) URU Complete Chronicles (Cyan 2004) (3D) Myst V End of Ages (Cyan 2005) (3D) THE MYST-LIKE GAMES ------------------------ Alida 3.5 Amber 4 Amerzone 5 Aura 4.5 Beyond Time 2.5 Castle 3 (MAC-only) Celtica 3 Chaos: A Fantasy Adventure 3 Comer 3 Cracking the Conspiracy 3 Crystal Key1 2.5 Crystal Key2 2 Dark Fall I 4.0 Dark Fall II (Lights Out) 3.5 Derek 3 Drowned God 2.5 Entombed 2.5 Forgotten, The 2.5 Frankenstein (Through the Eyes of the Monster) 3 Golden Gate 3 Isis 2.5 Lightbringer (Cydonia) 3 Lighthouse 3.5 Martian Chronicles, The 3 Milo 3 Mirage 1.5 Morpheus 4 Mummy, Tomb of the Pharoah 3 Nacah 2 NetZone 2.5 Nightfall 3 (MAC-only) Obsidian 5 Qin 3 Reah 4 Rama 3 Rhem 4 Rhem II (to be released) Riddle of the Sphinx 4 Riddle of the Sphinx II (The Omega Stone) 3 Schizm (Mysterious Journey) 4.5 Schizm II (Mysterious Journey II) (3D) 4 Secrets of the Luxor 3 Sentinel (3D) 4 Shivers 4 Shivers II 3 Timelapse 4 Titanic, Dare to Discover 1 Zork Nemesis 4 BORDERLINE MYST-LIKE or CROSSOVER GAMES ------------------------------------------------ 7th Guest, The 3 11th Hour, The 2.5 Alice - An Interactive Museum 4 Arrival, The 3 Atlantis The Lost Tales 3 Beyond Atlantis 3.5 Beyond Atlantis II 2.5 Bioscopia 3.5 Blackstone Chronicles, The 4 Capri (A Quiet Weekend In) 3 Chemicus 2.5 Connections 3 Eastern Mind 2.5 Egypt (Tomb of the Pharoah) 2 Egypt II (The Heliopolis Prophecy) 2 Egyptian Prophecy, The 3 Faust, Seven Games of the Soul 4 Gadget 4 Gord@k 2 JourneyMan Project 1 2.5 JourneyMan Project 2 (Buried in Time) 4 JourneyMan Project 3 (Legacy of Time) 5 L-Zone 3 Mystery of the Nautilus 2 Necronomicon 3 Noir, A Shadowy Thriller 2.5 Physicus 3 Pompeii, The Legend of Vesuvius 2 Sacred Amulet, The (aka Aztec) 3 SPQR (The Empire's Darkest Hour) Titanic Adventure Out of Time 3.5 Versailles 1685 3 Welcome To The Future 2 PUZZLE GAMES ---------------------- Cassandra Galleries 5 Jewels of the Oracle 4 Jewels II (Gems of Darkness) 3 Labyrinth of Time 3 Magnetic 3 Pandora's Box 3 Safecracker 2 Xiama 2.5 The future ain't what it used to be!
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#2 9 JUL 2005 at 2:46am
Aj Sorcerer Apprentice Posts : 278 Joined: 25 JAN 2005 Status : Online	Excellent work.
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#3 9 JUL 2005 at 9:11am
Deleted User	Bravo SirDave! An excellent resource which I am bookmarking for future reference.

#4 9 JUL 2005 at 4:54pm
colpet Schattenjger Posts : 1630 Joined: 12 APR 2003 Status : Offline	Well done! It would be nice if we could keep this current, i.e. add new games if need be. Shall we just PM you with suggestions? Jo Occasionally visiting Uru Live (KI 0063722 .&&
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#5 9 JUL 2005 at 5:27pm
Deleted User	First addition to the list: Rhem 2. Just ordered, five minutes ago.

#6 9 JUL 2005 at 5:38pm
Aj Sorcerer Apprentice Posts : 278 Joined: 25 JAN 2005 Status : Online	I'm far too busy/lazy to do this, but great idea colpet, now all we need is SirDave's permission. The idea is of course something like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_clones
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#7 9 JUL 2005 at 6:03pm
SirDave Guild Master Posts : 4940 Joined: 17 OCT 2002 Location: US Status : Offline	*Originally Posted By Betje (9 JUL 2005 5:27pm)* First addition to the list: Rhem 2. Just ordered, five minutes ago. Good idea Betje. I tried to do the same thing by adding Myst V to the 'Myst' list. The future ain't what it used to be!
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#8 9 JUL 2005 at 6:17pm
SirDave Guild Master Posts : 4940 Joined: 17 OCT 2002 Location: US Status : Offline	I really appreciate the positive comments and thanks to all who contributed in putting the list together. It really was a labor of love (as they say) because even though I dabbled in adventure games before Myst (starting with the Colossal Cave), it was Myst that made me a ravenous adventure game player and one of the first things I did after playing Myst & Riven was search every nook & cranny for games that gave me a similiar feeling- but there wasn't any list to guide me. I remember the first time someone talked about Celtica as being 'Myst-like' and I thought I could just go pick it up somewhere only to find that it had become a collector's item- which is what started off my collector's phase (hence my avatar)! I would like to see this list go in the JA Archives. In fact, I think it would be a great idea to maybe even have a new section for 'the lists' or at the very least have them permanently stickyed at the top, because they're getting somewhat lost in the Archives. Cranky's (cranky_hermit) Top 50 list is absolutely invaluable but it could easily be missed. The combination of his Top 50 List, the Graded By Difficulty List and the Myst-Like list would be great for new players to refer to but most of them don't know they're there. FWIW: there is nothing comparable to these lists anywhere else (AFAIK)- there was a general list (with grading) done a few years ago at another forum, but I don't think it's been upgraded since and it was nothing like Cranky's list which included great mini-reviews. BTW, all that's missing is a Definitive List of 3rd Person Games (seriously!), but this guy's list-creating days are over! The future ain't what it used to be!
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#9 9 JUL 2005 at 8:22pm
Terry Penrod Grand Inquisitor Posts : 6693 Joined: 16 OCT 2004 Location: US, Texas Status : Offline	. Thanks for all the hard work Dave and I agree that when the forum members all contribute to ultimate lists like this, the final results should in some way be highlighted for all newcomers. Perhaps, as you suggested, a special section like the new member's rating message board would be the easiest, most logical way to deal with it. By its very nature, it would never be that large a set of topics and the mods could simply choose to make the threads non-postable so uninformed new members could not arbitrarilly add new threads or post personal comments within the main (aplhabetized I assume) sticky threads. Of course, the original list makers would need access to them for occassional updates but that seems like it would be a pretty simple thing to do. I mean, how often would any one "ultimate" master list of anything need to be updated? And all potential new ultimate lists could still be handled in the general AG forum as they are now. If they prove to be comprehensive and worthy enough, then they too could be added to the special Ultimate AG Lists section. Cheers, Terry
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#10 10 JUL 2005 at 12:19am
Igor Artemov Space Cadet Posts : 185 Joined: 1 APR 2003 Status : Online	I think you should mention Inca 1-2 from Coktel. Though it was a mixture of different genres, it was actually an adventure. And all the puzzles were of a Myst-like type (though both games appeared eralier, than Myst itself). Oh, and I don't agree that every Myst-like game is played from 1st person Examples: Y2K - you played from 3rd person perspective (actually, your dumb character stood still in every location you entered, and you couldn't move him, so it's even more of 1st person). But most of the puzzles (exept for some elementary inventory-based) were of Myst stile. Hell, it was a very strange game Also, I guess Dig from Lucas Arts could be considered one of the Myst-like games, as it, again, had plenty of Myst-like puzzles (though very well integrated into the plot line). Killing Time
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#11 10 JUL 2005 at 12:54am
SirDave Guild Master Posts : 4940 Joined: 17 OCT 2002 Location: US Status : Offline	*Originally Posted By Afex Tween (10 JUL 2005 12:19am)* I think you should mention Inca 1-2 from Coktel. Though it was a mixture of different genres, it was actually an adventure. And all the puzzles were of a Myst-like type (though both games appeared eralier, than Myst itself). Also, I guess Dig from Lucas Arts could be considered one of the Myst-like games, as it, again, had plenty of Myst-like puzzles (though very well integrated into the plot line). Afex my friend, the list is complete and this thread was not intended for further discussions on what are or aren't Myst-like games. However, if you wish to discuss that subject, here's the thread to do it: http://www.justadventure.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=AdvGameDiscuss;action=display;num=1119919436 The future ain't what it used to be!
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#12 10 JUL 2005 at 1:24am
Andromus Guild Master Posts : 5537 Joined: 6 NOV 2002 Status : Offline	Very good work. This list has brought home to me how many Myst-like games I haven't played. So it's really nice to have a checklist! (And a grading system to separate the Obsidians from the Egypts.)
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#13 10 JUL 2005 at 7:43am
Caroline JA+ Overseer Posts : 16540 Joined: 28 JAN 2007 Location: AU Status : Offline	Well done Dave. Now what will you do with the rest of your life? I've just started replaying Obsidian and laughed until I choked when one of the TV screens insisted that I bring him the blue pages....... [smiley=rofl.gif]
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#14 10 JUL 2005 at 8:02am
Mr. Wrecks Space Cadet Posts : 118 Joined: 5 OCT 2004 Status : Online	Awesome list! Not only is it great to have one comprehensive list of Myst-ish games, but it's also great (with a splash of depressing) to see all the games I haven't played or have even heard about. I copied and printed it out so I can start searching the 'net to get my hands on these bad mammer jammers... Thanks for the list and the work behind getting it together... -kRex
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#15 10 JUL 2005 at 12:53pm
Igor Artemov Space Cadet Posts : 185 Joined: 1 APR 2003 Status : Online	SirDave Doi! Guess I'm too late You should've made a link in the beginning.. It's a piety Inca will now disappear in nothingness, though Killing Time
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#16 10 JUL 2005 at 3:29pm
Lady Kestrel Guild Master Posts : 4036 Joined: 27 SEP 2004 Location: US, NJ Status : Offline	Thank you for creating such an excellent resource, Sir Dave![smiley=thumbs.gif] "Where is the fountain that throws up these flowers in a ceaseless outbreak of ecstasy?" -Rabindranath Tagore
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#17 7 AUG 2005 at 12:40am
trudysgarden Sorcerer Apprentice Posts : 312 Joined: 19 JUL 2005 Status : Online	I just found this, what a great resource ! Thank you so much for doing this. happy trails, Carolyn
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#18 7 AUG 2005 at 1:36am
Ivinia Guild Master Posts : 4459 Joined: 7 JUN 2003 Location: US Status : Offline	So are we going to see the Definitive Longest Journey-Like Game List? Thats probably everything else not on your list since we seem to be able to fit all our games nicely into category A or category B.
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#19 18 AUG 2005 at 10:49pm
Smax Intergalactic Janitor Posts : 1 Joined: 18 AUG 2005 Status : Online	Does anyone know of a Myst-like game that is free over the interest? I have the name on the tip of my fingers but I just can't remember it for the life of me! Any help?
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#20 18 FEB 2006 at 9:10pm
uranus1997 Intergalactic Janitor Posts : 6 Joined: 17 APR 2005 Status : Online	The list makes me so excited! I had searched the similar list some times before. And I have a little question, why the games below don't belong to the list? Dose the reason is these games add more inventory or dialogue or something else? Versailles 2 Mission Sunlight Voyage ECHO: Secrets of the Lost Cavern Weird[ch8592](I thought this game maybe a MYST-LIKE game : ) Hope Springs Eternal- A Carol Reed Mystery Return to Mysterious Island Shady Brook And could SirDave mind me translate the list into Chinses for ChinaAVG fans?
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#21 19 JUL 2006 at 1:09am
buni1161 Intergalactic Janitor Posts : 77 Joined: 16 JUL 2006 Status : Online	*Originally Posted By Smax (18 AUG 2005 10:49pm)* Does anyone know of a Myst-like game that is free over the interest? I have the name on the tip of my fingers but I just can't remember it for the life of me! Any help? I have one- but it may not be the one your looking for - its called D'ni Legacy and its here- http://www.dnilegacy.com/dnilegacy/cheat.html [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1/buni1161/sigred-1.jpg[/IMG]
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#22 8 MAR 2011 at 5:51pm
Traveller Guild Master Posts : 4039 Joined: 3 JUL 2010 Location: US Status : Offline	Ah, good digging, SirDave! I think Colpet made in excellent suggestion about keeping the list updated right in this same thread. Why don't we ask the mods to move it to the main AG forum? ...or might it disappear even quicker there than here? Hmm, but it would be more visible there. * * * Just call me Trav. * * * “Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.” - Robert Bloch "They are not reciprocally sublated--the one does not sublate the other externally--but each sublates itself in itself and is in its own self the opposite of itself" (Hegel, from The Doctrine of Being)..."
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Topic: The Definitive Myst-Like Game List (Graded)

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