Myst III: Exile

Gameplay

Myst III: Exile keeps the core exploration and puzzle-solving style of the earlier games. You move through richly detailed, pre-rendered worlds called Ages by clicking your mouse or pressing the spacebar to hop between fixed viewpoints. A major change from the earlier titles is the free look feature, which lets you spin the camera in any direction at each node for a full 360-degree view. There is also a zip mode you can turn on to quickly travel across areas you have already visited, skipping over intermediate nodes. Clicking on objects lets you pick them up or interact with them, and the cursor changes shape to show what action is possible.

Each Age has its own unique look and theme. You start on J'nanin, which serves as a central hub connecting to the other Ages and also works as a tutorial, teaching you important puzzle concepts you will need later. The three main Ages are Amateria, a mechanical world set in the middle of a vast ocean; Edanna, a preserved natural environment full of plants and animals; and Voltaic, a dusty island with canyons packed with machines and devices.

To solve puzzles, you collect clues and change the environment around you. The puzzles are tied to each Age's theme. For instance, you reach the book that leads to Voltaic by aiming beams of light across a canyon, and inside Voltaic you find more puzzles based on energy. Edanna's puzzles involve working with the ecosystem, like adjusting how plants and animals interact. Many puzzles require you to watch how parts of the environment affect each other, then change those connections. You can also find and read journals or pages left by characters, which provide backstory and hints. A cursor mode lets you pick items from an inventory bar at the bottom of the screen.

Plot

A decade after the events of Riven, the player journeys to Tomahna, the residence of Atrus and his wife Catherine. Atrus is a scientist and explorer who has learned the Art, an ancient method of creating links to other worlds by writing special books. This skill was originally developed by the D'ni, a civilization that fell after a plague devastated their city. Atrus summons the player to show off his latest creation, an Age called Releeshahn, which he intends as a new home for the surviving D'ni people. Just as Atrus and the player are about to depart for Releeshahn, a stranger bursts into Atrus's study, sets it on fire, and steals the Releeshahn book. The player chases the thief by using a book he left behind, arriving on J'nanin, an Age Atrus wrote long ago to teach the Art to his sons. Because the fire badly damaged the J'nanin book, Atrus cannot join the player. The thief is named Saavedro. Twenty years earlier, Atrus's troubled sons, Sirrus and Achenar, wrecked Saavedro's home Age of Narayan and left him stranded on J'nanin. Saavedro thinks his family is dead and wants revenge on Atrus, not knowing that Atrus has locked up his sons for their crimes and that Saavedro's own family is still alive. The game offers several possible endings based on the player's choices. In the best outcome, Saavedro peacefully returns to Narayan after handing over the Releeshahn book. Other conclusions see Saavedro destroying Releeshahn or killing the player, while another lets the player leave Saavedran trapped forever.

Development

To develop a third game in the Myst and Riven series, Cyan Worlds and Mattel Interactive asked several studios to submit proposals. According to reports, these pitches included story ideas, an analysis of the earlier games, technology plans, and working demos. A team at Presto Studios began by studying Myst and Riven, then set clear objectives for their project. Presto founder Greg Uhler said these goals were visual variety across the Ages, a satisfying conclusion, and a way for players to track their progress. Uhler noted that many players gave up on the first two games because they could not tell how far they had left to go or what they were supposed to do. Presto initially drafted three different storylines, but after a meeting with Cyan and Mattel, a completely new plot emerged that addressed loose ends from Myst. Mattel chose Presto based on the studio's talent, experience, and an existing working relationship. The entire Presto staff worked on the game, which cost millions of dollars to produce. Development took two and a half years, with nine months spent on design and pre-production. The team focused heavily on strong visual styles and inventive mechanics, which one critic compared to a mix of Jules Verne, Rube Goldberg, and Claes Oldenburg. By July 2000, the story, puzzles, and overall look were finished, and the studio was building the game worlds. Like earlier Myst titles, the game used pre-rendered environments. Producer Dan Irish explained that this approach gave a photorealistic look that made the world feel convincing, and the 360-degree camera view added to the sense of reality. To create the visuals, dynamic water, character animations, and lighting, Presto used 3ds Max, Areté's Digital Nature Tools, and other software.

Reception

When it launched, Myst III: Exile was met with generally favorable reviews. The PC edition earned a 77% aggregate score on GameRankings and an 83 out of 100 on Metacritic. Critics widely praised the game’s graphics and sound, saying these elements were key to making the world feel immersive. Reviewers noted that the puzzles were easier and more self-contained than those in Riven—players no longer had to flip a switch and then travel several screens away to see what happened. Peter Cohen of Macworld appreciated that Presto Studios spread story details throughout the adventure, rather than saving all exposition for the beginning and ending. The pacing and the way the game rewarded players also drew compliments. IGN summed up its review by saying Presto had done “a pretty good job with a notable addition to the series.” The Daily Telegraph went further, calling Exile the best Myst game yet, a view shared by several other outlets. Computer Games Magazine named it the best adventure game of 2001, describing it as “a breath of fresh air amidst the otherwise barren crop of adventure titles.” The same publication gave Exile awards for Best Art Direction and Best Acting, the latter for Brad Dourif’s performance.

On the downside, the game came on four discs, forcing players to swap the installer disc for another every time they entered a new Age. GameSpot’s Scott Osborne pointed out that the frame-by-frame movement sometimes made it hard to tell where you could go and what areas were off-limits. The Los Angeles Times reported that up to 10 percent of the first shipment had bugs, including missing sound, graphics card incompatibility, and system crashes. Some reviewers who had disliked Myst or Riven found nothing new or different enough to hold their interest. The New York Times observed that “Exile has everything you loved or hated about Myst and Riven.”

At the 5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Myst III for Outstanding Achievement in Character or Story Development, Outstanding Achievement in Original Musical Composition, and PC Action/Adventure Game of the Year. Those awards went to Ico, Tropico, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, respectively. In 2011, Adventure Gamers ranked Exile as the 59th-best adventure game ever released.