Put on some headphones, turn off the lights, and lose yourself in the most amazingly realistic world ever created.
Like its predecessors, Myst IV utilizes prerendered graphics, meaning you’re once again limited to just moving from one bubble to another. However once you fire this game up, you’ll immediately see why this method is best for a game like this. I don’t care how realistic you think the Half-Life 2 engine is, I don’t care how powerful your graphics card is. There is no game today using real time rendering that is as detailed and realistic as Myst IV. And these are no longer just static images that look pretty any more, no, no, no. The worlds of Revelation are brimming with life. In fact the engine they used to create every scene is called the “ALIVE” engine, and for good reason. Why the previous games had a few bits of animation here and there, Myst IV animates practically everything! Stand on a balcony on Tomahna, the first age, and you’ll see branches and leaves blowing in the wind, insects and birds flutter by, water rushing past swiftly beneath you towards a waterfall, and all of it as detailed as if you were actually standing right there on that very balcony.
This game is the most immersive I’ve ever played. Not only is everything around you animated to act like you were really standing there, but the producers spared no expense to fill the world with details to add to the experience. As you pan around each scene, you’ll hear footsteps corresponding to the movement you’d be making if you actually were turning around, and each sound matches the surface you’re standing on perfectly, whether it’s wood, stone, metal or turf. If you click on an object that you can’t actively manipulate, you’ll tap it, producing another highly realistic sound depending on the object and what it’s made of and whether it’s hollow or not. Tap some still water and you’ll send a few ripples across the surface.
Another interesting feature that pulls you in just that much further is the new “hand” system. Instead of a flat, cartoon hand curser that you had in the previous games, you’ve got a small, 3D hand that moves around and changes depending on what you can do. If you’re facing a path you can go forward on, it points. If you hold it over a button you can press, the finger extends to push said button. If you hold it over something that can be examined closer, it whips out a small magnifying glass with a soft flourish like sound (though don’t ask where it got the magnifying glass, I haven’t the slightest idea). And perhaps coolest of all, if you hold it over a door knob or a lever, it will turn into a hand about to grasp something, and when you click it will actually take hold of the item, but instead of manipulating it right away like most Myst games, you actually have to click and drag to move the item, whether you’re opening a door or pulling a lever, making you feel like you’re actually holding and moving the object in question.
Unfortunately, because the little 3D hand ends at the wrist, it has a slight severed look to it, which many people find a little unnerving and creepy but you do get used to it right away.
Of course the Myst games aren’t all about the worlds, they’re also about puzzles. Puzzles designed to make you think. And by think, I of course mean tear your hair out and leap from your window naked, screaming at the top of your lungs in frustration. There is no denying it, no getting around it; the puzzles in Revelation are hard. Really, really hard. See, first you have to figure out where the puzzles are. Then you have to figure out what the puzzles are. Then you must figure out how the puzzles work, what the puzzles do, why you need to solve this puzzle in the first place and then of course, finally, how the hell to solve it once you’ve got all the rest of that figured out. Thankfully, most of the puzzles do make some sort of sense if you’ve done enough investigating around the world. Luckily, the game employs a nifty little tool to help you out there, a camera. If you see anything that you think might be a clue or a hint, you can snap a picture of it and then type in a series of notes for each picture you take. It’s handy, though you will still find yourself scribbling madly on pieces of loose paper scattered around your computer. However, there are still several puzzles where you aren’t given any help whatsoever, you simply have to stare at it and fiddle around until you think you’ve figured out the pattern or the sequence or whatever.
Well, it’s not entirely true that you aren’t given any help whatsoever. The game also includes a little hint system for each age, offering you two subtle hints for each puzzle before finally giving you the full answer. Some people think the answers shouldn’t be so accessible, but really they aren’t that much more accessible than this little thing I like to call the Internet.
And of course there’s also a story, a very good story I might add that not only expands on the Myst franchise as a whole but really offers you an intriguing look at the history of not only Atrus himself, but also his family, including and especially his two sons from the very first Myst game. It’s well written and very interesting and really adds a lot to this game, making it so much more than a beautiful puzzlefest.
I think, besides the incredibly hard puzzles, the only other problem I have with this game is that once it’s over, that’s it. There’s almost no replay value whatsoever, but then that’s the case with most adventure games. You can go through it again of course, which can actually be fun, to re-experience the world, but the challenge is gone as even if you don’t remember everything, you still remember enough to breeze through the puzzles quite easily.
This is without a doubt the most immersive and detailed game I’ve ever played in my life, and I don’t think it’s very likely we’ll be seeing another game this detailed and this stunning for a very, very long time. If you’re looking for something to really challenge your Mensa abilities, this is definitely for you. And if you’re looking for the ultimate in escapism, this is definitely for you.