Myst IV

Just this week I finished playing Myst IV; it was an enjoyable game with several fun puzzles (and a few irritating ones). I played the previous three Myst games several years ago.

This game mechanics were similar to Myst III in that you linked to nodes where you could view 360º in any direction (as opposed to the stills of Myst and Riven). Zip mode was redone, now you can pull a menu and zip to a particular location, instead of bypassing a few nodes.

The story of this game involves the two brothers, Sirrus and Achenar, escaping from their prison ages and capturing their sister, Yeesha. Like other Myst games, the player must solve various puzzles to complete the game. Many of these puzzles were similar in difficulty to those in prior Myst games. Achenar’s age, Haven, was very acoustically oriented, much like the Selenitic Age in Myst I. Small primate creatures had to be called by name using a machine with rotating dials to produce differently pitched sound.

The final age, Serenia was quite bizarre with several of the puzzles happening in a parallel dream world. To avoid giving too much away the final puzzle was challenging but fun to logically fit all the pieces in their proper place.

I am looking forward to buying Myst V soon.