Screenshot: Myst

The Quest 2 continues to impress me, so much so that its become the virtual reality headset that I use the most. It doesnt outperform my Valve Index, but its mobility makes it convenient in a way that the Index cant touch. It isnt a graphical powerhouse, but it gets the job done. Its the perfect fit for puzzle games, like The Room VR: A Dark Matter and now Myst. I always thought Myst would be a good fit for virtual reality.

Myst is an adventure puzzle game that doesnt really need an introductionits one of the original classics. I have nostalgic memories of trying to figure out Mysts cryptic puzzles at a very young age, but I never got too far in the classic version of the game. In Myst you play as a traveler who stumbles across the Myst book, and after reading it, find yourself on a mysterious island full of cryptic puzzles controlling strange mechanisms. Nothing is explained outrightits all about exploration and discovery.

Screenshot: Myst

Myst has been completely rebuilt for VR. I thought I would be playing the real Myst version updated for virtual reality, but thats not the case. That means visually, things look different. Gone are the FMV shots of actors, replaced with new 3D modelswhich is a shame, since it loses a tiny bit of charm. Im pretty sure they kept the same voice acting, though, so it retains some of the originals cheesy line reads. If youve played Myst before in any of its forms, youll feel at home here. Locations and puzzles work mostly you would expect, and the sound effects and music remain intact.

There are some slight differences between Myst VR and its other versions. First of all, when starting a new game, you have the option to randomize puzzles. This allows Myst to be a somewhat refreshing experienceif youve played through Myst countless times, the randomization will change certain aspects of the game to make them unpredictable. Outside of puzzle randomization, there have been other changes. Some puzzles are tweaked (presumably) to be a little easier in VR. Some items that you have to interact with have been raised to be above waist levelssomething I very much appreciate, especially due to the lack of any sort of distance grabbing. Most VR games implement a sort of telekinesis to alleviate some of the bending and reaching required to grab objects, but thats not present in Myst. With the puzzles reconfigured for virtual reality, though, I never felt like such a feature was necessary.

What I did find necessary was some method of note taking. Myst doesnt hold your hand at any point. It doesnt really even make it clear when youre correctly solving a puzzle until the solution is working. I found myself taking off my Quest 2 a few times to take notes of numbers and other information that would otherwise leave my brain almost immediately. It would have been fantastic to have some sort of virtual notepad to jot down ideas, but alas, it is not so. Then again, reading those notes back might be a bit of an issue on Quest 2.

While Myst, graphically, holds up alright, its also its weakest feature. Open areas are covered in a fog, which is unsurprising and not as extreme as I thought it would be. The most egregious graphical issue is the readability of text. It doesnt come up often in Myst, but the few hand written notes that Ive come across are horribly pixelated, and surprisingly hard to read. Myst runs well on the Quest 2, however, and is a comfortable VR experience. I mostly used teleportation to get around, but smooth movement is also available for those who arent as susceptible to motion sickness in VR as I am.

If you know nothing about Myst going in, you might be confused whats happening in its story. Its purposefully enigmatic with little introduction. Even as you move through the different areas (called Ages) and you unlock more books, the story is a little slippery. The gist of it is this: there are two sons, Sirrus and Archeron, both trapped in books. You have to scour the Ages of Myst to recover the proper pages for each book. As you do this, the brothers motivations and personalities are revealed, and you can learn more about what happened to get them trapped there. I dont want to spoil anything for this 27 year old game, because this VR version is a possible new point of entry to those who havent played Myst and its many sequels. There is not really any character interaction, thoughdealing with the few characters that make up Myst is akin to watching a video and making a decision afterwards.

The type of puzzles youll encounter in Myst are varied, and interesting. Theres a reason Myst was popular back in 1993 and remains so to this day. For me, as I found myself stuck in Myst, right before giving up I would find a new clue or interaction that would drive me to continue forward. Some puzzles can be figured out with few other clues, but most of the puzzles are sprawling, with some requiring interaction with other puzzles or objects that are far away to solve. Myst is a casual game without any enemies or time pressure, but there are a few times where timing is required to successfully solve a puzzle.

With a few tweaks, the puzzles work great in virtual reality. There arent as many objects to interact with as you might find in other similar VR games, but thats just a byproduct of its age. The new puzzles do take advantage of your ability to grab objects, twist knobs, press buttons and pull levelssomething you could only do with mouse clicks until now.The new way of solving old puzzles in Myst is fun, but some of Mysts larger puzzles felt a little tiresome in VR. Redirecting the long water pipes in the Channelwood Age, for instance, felt more tedious than it used to, and all of the twisting even made me a bit motion sickthe only time it was an issue I was while playing. While I found that playing while standing felt the most natural, Myst is completely able to be played while sittingespecially if youre patient with movement and positioning, so you can get yourself within reach of some of the puzzle elements.

Myst has come into a new Agevirtual realityand its a pretty good fit. Its graphically acceptable, except for the hard-to-read text. The puzzles are classics, and with a few tweaks work well in VR. Being able to interact with objects added a tactile element to Myst that really ups the immersiona real treat for long-time fans of this classic series. If you love puzzle games, I definitely recommend thisand if youre a long-time fan of the Myst franchise, this is the closest youll come to stepping into one of Atrus books.

Myst is available tomorrow on Oculus Quest 2, and will be coming soon to SteamVR.

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Review: Myst Enters the Age of Virtual Reality - thirdcoastreview.com