Myst, a classic revisited in a VR key | Review
If you are too young to remember Myst, the progenitor of the series, you can replay it today on Quest, in a graphically revised version directly from Cyan, the Indie studio of the original game.
With Quest / Quest 2 you can now move freely within the world of Myst, but the interaction with the virtual world was not particularly taken care of in all details. This means that instead of managing the animation of virtual hands with all the objects, sometimes the interaction is simply indicated by the appearance of some small spheres. You can interact with various objects, but when you drop them they will disappear to return to their place. There is no remote attachment and interaction system for objects, and so on. This behavior can be seen as a way to "save on development", but as a beneficial effect you will not be distracted by aesthetic elements that are useless for the purpose of the adventure. For example, you can grab some objects, such as ampoules or daggers, which, however, have been inserted only as props, which will not be used to solve the various puzzles. In short, Cyan could have done better from this point of view, but the adventure remains enjoyable.
The graphics are a leap forward from the original version, and a small step back from the remastered version for PC. Perhaps what is most out of place is the graphics of the manuscripts, not so easy to read (we tested it on Oculus Quest 2). Reading the messages and books is essential to progress in the adventure, Cyan could have included a subtitle option for written messages and not just vocal ones, or change the graphics (font) of the manuscripts.
A in this regard, there is no version in Italian; if you are not strong with English, this is not the game for you.
The movement system is free or via teleport. You can quickly change from one to the other by pressing the analog joystick on the right controller, and quickly switch between walking and running with the left one. The implementation of the teleport is only discreet: we do not understand why to force to follow a path (for example, go up stairs) if it is possible to point to an easily accessible area; this requires an additional waste of time which risks becoming unnerving, considering that due to the type of game you will find yourself visiting the different areas endless times. There are no particular problems if you use free movement; you just have to be immune to motion sickness, considering that in some situations, especially when you go up or down stairs or slopes, it could be felt.
In this context the purely static graphics allow you to maintain a stable and high frame rate , without drops in fluidity that could create discomfort.
With a game like this it is not unusual to “take notes”, to always have the clues needed to solve puzzles under control. With a VR headset on your face, it's not convenient to take it off every time to write in a notebook, so we've found that it's very convenient to take screenshots, from time to time, to retrieve useful information as needed.
Verdict
For this review we have not mentioned practically anything related to the game; being a puzzle-based graphic adventure, we avoided any kind of spoilers and concentrated on the technical part.We must say that Cyan has kept all the charm of the general adventure intact and expertly brought it to the virtual reality interior. It almost seems that this game was destined, from its inception, for a VR platform. It is finally possible to truly immerse yourself in the world of Myst
Technically the result is discreet. The graphics do not scream a miracle, as well as the interactions with the environment. Teleport offers limited freedom of movement and it is difficult to read manuscripts. Fortunately, all this does not affect the gameplay, but wanting more is not a sin.
If you like graphic adventures and especially puzzles, Myst is worth playing.
