However, every area afterwards seems a bit less impressive, to the point where there are moments where it’s hard to be sure if there was step up from the third game in terms of graphics. The first area, Atrus’ home in Tohmana (the same place where Exile begins), is also very well done. Sadly, after those first few shots, the graphics never reach that same level again. The music hits the right notes as Yeesha tells you a little bit about her family and gives you the chance to take a picture of their very photogenic house. The first moments of the game are absolutely gorgeous – a classic Myst ride on a monorail, this time through a sunny canyon over a river. They still kept Jack Wall’s over-the-top orchestral music, though, as he returns to work on Revelation as well. That’s probably because they are important characters this time around, or maybe they noticed the drawings were a little weird in Exile. Interestingly enough, the drawings of his two sons on the desk are now actual photo portraits. The opening video once again shows Atrus pondering about the past on his writing table. You are introduced to their kid sister Yeesha at the beginning of the game, but she gets kidnapped very early on, so you’ll have to save her as well.

(Forced exile and family troubles are really recurrent themes here, aren’t they?) You can probably guess that your task is to explore these prison ages and see what happened to the two brothers.

The game thus takes place 20 years after the first Myst. Not only are their books no longer destroyed, but they are also full-fledged ages without an exit door, instead of one-man prisons.

The storyline undergoes a retconning in the fourth game, as Atrus’ two sons, Sirrus and Achenar, are no longer lost forever after their prison books were burned in the original Myst. The fourth installment of the Myst franchise was once again handed out to a third party studio, this time to Ubisoft Montréal.

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