Due to my latest poll. I have decided that the deviantART community lacks something major.....MYST KNOWLEDGE! The amazing games by Cyan Worlds are easily summed up in this video [link] , which gives you a glimpse into each of the games. To summarize the games would be the search for truth past all the lies. In each game you literally have to jump through hoops and solve impossible puzzles in order to find out more about the characters and the world that you've been thrust into. You are 'the stranger' in all of the games. For the first 3 or 4 I believe you are the first 'stranger' and then Uru and End of Ages (the final) you are different strangers. There are only a few constant things for the series....1) Atrus has brought you where you are. 2) Atrust wrote the worlds you're going into 3) You have to read......a lot.......to understand the history of each world 4) Someone is always going insane.

The games are extensive and the graphics are brilliant for what time they were created. When you think about it. From the frame by frame acts of Myst to the fully rotating views of both Uru and End of Ages, these games have created quite the jumps when it comes to computer graphics. The puzzles are always challenging...some are even too much for the human mind to comprehend.....except for Uru.......cuz then you need a map or something. >< I swear. It's difficult just finding the right world on the shelves of books. This is when Myst starts going hand in hand with it's game guide. Shhh, don't tell my mom, but when we were playing Revelation (the 4th one) and she would go downstairs to get something, I would read the game guide. I was a sneaky little kid. But apparently I was quite smart too, because we went to Exil (the 3rd one, 2nd one I played) and with no game guide and no help from my mom I figured out a puzzle. I was like a 5th grader. I felt so smart.

Besides the graphics and the puzzles, these games have a deep and winding plot and also some pretty kick butt music. You see parts of Atrus's life throughout the games and still in Uru, which is slightly outside of the main Myst universe (for it was originally designed as a online game), you see Yeesha in the very beginning and she gives you your first real steps into the Uru world. Atrus is still very much there in the beginning, in the presence of a letter to Yeesha. He sets up your path into the Ages.

All in all, the Myst games are beautiful examples of what can be done right now. We can create worlds. The Cyan Worlds company, founded by two brothers, has done an excellent job with all 6 of the games. You should play them...*hint hint* ^^

=AnkokuKesshou