Myst III: Exile (2001)

So: this game was made by another team of devs, not Cyan who made Myst 1 and 2. And dang, it shows.

I consider Exile a competent "myst-like" in the sense that it definitely feels, looks and sounds like a real Myst game, but it's evident that it lacks the coherence between gameplay and lore that you can find in Riven, the previous title. Many, many times I was left scratching my head over design choices regarding the movement and the puzzles: where you can and cannot go? can I zoom to that far object in the distance? why do I need to hold the click to move this lever? is that supposed to be a ladder? when and how can I use Zip mode?

There are many things wrong with Exile, but I still can't quite hate it. The graphics and the music are on-point, just like the acting. Just be ready to overlook some annoyances here and there.

Completed with a guide, on PC, 10 hours.

Myst III: Exile lacks a bit of the magic that made the original so unique, but does manage to cut above the Riven that threw all sensibility and intuition out the window. On a quest to take back an important linking book from a hilariously melodramatic villain, this game ditches the single-age format of Riven for more sequential and straightforward progression through three ages.

Unfortunately, neither of the three ages are all that unique, choosing to instead center around puzzles instead of their environment. Edanna evokes Channelwood, Voltaic evokes Selenetic, and Amateria evokes Mechanical, but their central puzzles are decently interesting (compared to the animal stones and marbles of Riven that were downright infuriating). There are some puzzles that were a bit too finicky to get just right (the hub age and mapping the marble coordinates just right) but some fall into place fairly well (light-focusing the flowers in Edanna).

The game's visuals are quite beautiful, with a 360 view that serves as a nice upgrade above the previous games. The game still uses static images, but when moving via FMV the Ages come to life and can be quite gorgeous, even though the areas tend to look the same after awhile.

Given a short time span and slightly boring visual design, this game isn't the most stupendous but is quite more mechanically palatable than its more famous predecessor, Riven.