Myst (PS5/PSVR2) Review

Gameplay

Graphics

Audio

Narrative

Summary: The Myst remake finally makes it to PS5 with the best version of the venerable puzzler on console.

3.8

The Third Dimension

Hey kids, Myst is back! You remember Myst, right?

That point-and-click game from 1993 that was absolutely everywhere. It was in that episode of The Simpsons with the 3D. Its creators were in an ad campaign for the Gap, no?

Myst seems to be an apt name for the game, because much like its namesake, it was bloody everywhere one minute and gone the next.

There have been attempts to bring it back in the thirty-odd years since it took the world by storm, including several console and handheld ports, and a previous crack at a remake in 2014.

Then, in 2021, Myst’s original developers, Cyan Worlds, returned with a ground-up Unreal-powered remake, and now half a decade later, it’s finally made its way to the PS5 with what is possibly the definitive version of this most recent remake.

If you have vague memories of playing the original, you’ll feel at home with the remake, despite the glow up, under the hood (if you play in classic mode at least), it’s the same game you probably lied to your friends about completing when you were an obnoxious teen.

Myst has always been a bewildering game, which is probably its greatest strength. From the off, it draws you in by presenting you (that’s right, the main character is you, the dork playing the game) with a book that has fallen through a crack in space. You pick it up, open it up, and are transported to the docks of a mysterious island.

It’s then up to you to piece together… Absolutely everything. It’s a colossal breadcrumb trail of the most obscure order. If you miss that letter on the rock, one of many things the remake actually makes it easier to miss since you’re now free-roaming in proper 3D environments rather than clicking around several million static screens, which merely gave the illusion of 3D movement, you are stuffed, well, in the very least, doomed to wander around in circles until you find vital clue or piece of evidence that can help you puzzle out what you need to do next.

On the flip side, though, if you played and finished the original, you can still race through the entire thing incredibly quickly if you know the solution to each puzzle. Thankfully, though, there is a random mode for veterans that changes up the puzzles, though it doesn’t change where you have to go, just the answer when you get there.

The best part of Myst, though, is how it cleverly uses the environment to tell a compelling story that has several different endings, depending on the choices you make while romping through its various ages.

Using a combination of environmental details, journals, and even some puzzle solutions, you’ll slowly piece together the events that led to the Myst book landing in your hands… and that’s your lot.

Yes, I know the game is 30 years old, but on the off chance you haven’t played Myst before, I really don’t want to ruin the story. It’s best to go in knowing as little as possible. What I will say, though, is that it’s worth your while to hop into the options and turn on the original live-action FMV cut scenes. Trust me. They’re far more entertaining.

If you have the means, it’s also well worth giving Myst a crack using the PSVR2. Sure, it runs perfectly well in flat screen mode. In fact, Myst’s various biomes look absolutely lovely on the PS5, and it runs flawlessly. Though I will also admit it is a complete ballache to keep taking the helmet on and off to jot things down and look at your notes because the pass-through on the device is a blurry black-and-white mess.

Still, there is something about actually leaning in to examine clues and contraptions that makes Myst feel infinitely more immersive, tactile, and ultimately, satisfying than the original’s series of static screens could ever hope to.

The soundtrack also holds up incredibly well, punctuating Myst’s lonely atmosphere with musical stings that help draw you in and alert you to a new puzzle or other mystery as you explore the world. The sound design was always a high point, and it remains so in the remake.

Final Thoughts

Myst on PS5 is by far the best way to play the seminal puzzler on modern platforms. Whether you decide to tackle it sitting on the sofa or fully immersed using PSVR2, Cyan Worlds has done a marvelous job of updating and rebuilding the game for modern hardware, while still being unmistakably Myst.

About the Author

Gareth Newnham

Myst (PS5/PSVR2) Review