Myst Best indie/obscure Myst clones

[tuluse]

No worries, I was too slow on the draw.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Just learned about another Myst clone from the 1990s, Qin: Tomb of the Middle Kingdom. Anyone here played it? Is it any good?

 

[Cool name]

I have it somewhere but I did never play it beyond installing it to check if it did work or not.

 

[Boleskine]

Sierra had some nice ones:

Lighthouse
RAMA
Shivers
Shivers 2

 

[Redlands]

Sierra had some nice ones:

Lighthouse
RAMA
Shivers
Shivers 2

I'd probably say Shivers is less of a Myst clone and more of a 7th Guest clone... if the 7th Guest wasn't an unbearable abortion of a game.

 

[Crooked Bee]

1953 - KGB Unleashed, made by the same guys who did Outcry/Sublustrum, has been released on Steam:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/248490/

Adventuregamers.com has a review, let's see...

The Good: Challenging puzzle design with logical and satisfying solutions; claustrophobic location with creepy atmosphere; storyline gets more interesting as it goes along.
The Bad: American voiceovers sound more like FBI than KGB; lots of reading required to properly understand the plot; brief ending is a bit disappointing.

Sounds like it could be good.

 

[Cool name]

Both Adventuregamers.com and Justadventure have gone so far into bleep that's not even funny.

 

[Infinitron]

AdventureGamers.com didn't post our AdventureDex interview.

 

[Aeschylus]

AdventureGamers.com didn't post our AdventureDex interview.

You should take that as a compliment.

 

[iqzulk]

Challenging puzzle design with logical and satisfying solutions

Let's say it like that. The puzzles here are a teensy bit worse than in first two locations of Sublustrum (professor's flat and its inverse version), but a helluva lot better than in the rest of Sublustrum (basically, tram puzzle and flower puzzle).

American voiceovers sound more like FBI than KGB

To tell you the truth, I don't know anything about the actual dub quality of this game (Sublustrum, however, was so much better with Russian voices than with English! - I would even go as far as with recommending to switch the game voice-pack with that of the Russian version's - however, I don't know if that's even possible and if the game would give you enough subtitles in proper places in order for everything to make sense). However, it seems to me that they are complaining about the lack of that typical "HEVI RASHEN EKZENT, KOMRED" with "TOVARISCH" and "BLYAD'" being every second word, which (the lack of that kind of dubbing, that is) would be really awesome, if you ask me. I am seriously fed up (like, "HNNNNNNNNNG, NO YOU DIDN'T, NOT AGAIN!") with that shovelware practice of bringing together a dozen of bearers of most horrendous/cringeworthy Russian accents imaginable (for "TEH FLAVOR"), recording that crap on a second try and calling it a day / a proper dubbing.

lots of reading required to properly understand the plot

Not really. You won't understand the plot regardless of how much you'll read into documents. It just goes completely derpity-derp Lynch style after a certain point - and in contrast with Sublustrum, its ending DOESN'T give you any solid hints about the definitive interpretation of the rest of the game (Sublustum ending had both a really nice twist AND such a hint which gave you at least some idea, a start point, about what actually happened), which is why Adventuregamers are claiming that

brief ending is a bit disappointing.

However, what all the aforementioned reading IS needed for is gathering more information about the setting and that whole situation the main hero finds himself in. And that setting is indeed very nicely done, with GREAT care and attention for authenticity and that whole "actual government experiments on potential psychics" vibe. Some of the puzzlework however looks kinda stupid if you consider that "as serious as it gets" attitude of the game, though.
Also, there is a nice little shoutout to Sublustrum. Let's see if anyone here manages to actually find it.

Sounds like it could be good.

It is. As I've said, it's a bit shorter and a lot more of a straight-up thriller than Sublustrum was, but nevertheless it's a nice solid title. Nothing ground-shattering though.

 

[tuluse]

It's not that obscure, but no one has mentioned Return to Mysterious Island. I never got that far into the game, but it is first person puzzle solving.

 

[Boleskine]

It's not that obscure, but no one has mentioned Return to Mysterious Island. I never got that far into the game, but it is first person puzzle solving.

Haven't played that one myself, but it's available at GOG.com

 

[iqzulk]

1953: KGB Unlieashed, Outcry/Sublustrum

Also, a bit of an offtopic:

Spoiler

In Russia itself, Sublustrum (and, to a much lesser extent, Phobos1953 a.k.a 1953: KGB [hnnng] Unleashed) is something like cult modern classics and the prime (with Pathologic being... not really a pure adventure game) example of a really decent, like, no joke, Russian adventure game.
The thing about "reallydecentness" is that there existed a certain sub-genre, called "Russian quest", which was generally comprised of absolutely shovelware "national-flavor humorous" MonkeyIsland-style adventure games with horrendous (more often than not) quality of drawings and "heard that joke a thousand times" kind of humor, and which was synonymous with most blatant forms of cashgrab imaginable. That genre was established in 1997 ("Pilot Brothers: On The Track Of Striped Elephant", which was based upon a famous USSR cartoon and was basically a Gobliiins clone) and 1998 ("Petka and VICH Save the Galaxy" which was based upon a gazillion of Chapaev jokes and was basically a MI clone) and absolutely PLAGUED the Russian adventure market till, say, 2008 (from 2010 onwards all the cashgrabbers moved to the facebook "games" and casual hiddenobjects PC/iPhone shovelware). The whole thing was so intoxicating, the any serious and well-done adventure had a potential for being considered a godsend from heaven. In that regard, a lot of Sublustrum's cult status was due to it being an "anti-RussianQuest" in absolutely every way imaginable.
As for the decent Russian-and-the-like adventure games, seriously, there isn't (to put it lightly) all that much. There is basically Phantomery stuff (Sublustrum, Phobos1953), FullPipe (which is just too artsy and well done gameplay-wise to be considered a RussianQuest), Star Heritage (which, I don't think, will ever get an English translation, and which is, to tell you the truth, only kind of decent; also, the same people made "Inhabited Island: Earthling" game, which, despite having serious potential ended up being buggy and underdeveloped mess), Transition (which, again, doesn't have an English translation - and seeing that it's freeware and that author explicitly refused to translate THAT amount of literary writing, I'd say it isn't coming anytime soon; also, it's hands down the BEST Russian adventure I've ever played and one of the best adventure games I've played period) - and that's basically all.
Well, not really, there are also Midnight Nowhere, Nuclear Titbit, Worldspiral:Liath and maybe even Tanita: Plasticine Dream (which has a funky vibe, but also has some really well done plasticine work), but they are of much lower quality than the ones mentioned. Also there were SixthDimension/BeeLore + Magic Turn by the PARKAN dev, but I haven't actually played them. And Viy: Story Retold (which I, once again, haven't played). Also, two Dilemma games and Old Park Ghost, but that's, like, really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Oh, and there are those Frogwares' Sherlock Holmes games that are partly Ukrainian - but then again, only partly, so they don't really count.

 

[Crane]

I ran across this, tonight.



Shine is supposedly some sort of weird-ass myst-like released only in Germany in 1996.

I can't find anything more about it other than the MobyGames description:

German-produced game Shine is a typical Myst-like 1st-person perspective adventure game with pre-rendered backdrops. In this game you will become Shine. But who is Shine? You don't know when you start the game. You don't know anything but that you are in Twilight City, a once huge and crowded metropolis. But all life and population seems to have vanished, everything is past and only remains as a distant memory.

Strange artificial creatures, lost musicians, no day and no night - what dark secret does the city hold? Become Shine and find out by exploring murky and frightening places, meeting bizarre creatures and people and solving a few puzzles.

It looks hilarious, though.

 

[Crooked Bee]

So apparently ASA - A Space Adventure has been rejected by GOG.com early this year: http://af.gog.com/forum/general/asa_a_space_adventure/post19?as=1649904300

Really, GOG? This is one of the best Myst-like I've played, challenging and logical at the same time, and yet you refuse it because graphics lol?

I am extremely disappoint, JudasIscariot


The graphics in ASA are totally fine, by the way. I encourage everyone to give the game a try.

 

[Jaesun]

WTF? And yes, it is a good Myst like.

 

[JudasIscariot]

Crooked Bee

I don't know as approving games is way outside my scope. Sorry

 

[iqzulk]

Really, GOG? Really?? This is the best Myst-like I've played in the past god knows how many years, very challenging and highly logical at the same time, and yet you refuse it because graphics lol?

You've missed the point. The main issue is that they rejected the game based on an opinion of a single cocksucker playtester - and they outright refused to try the game with another one.

 

[Crooked Bee]

You've missed the point. The main issue is that they rejected the game based on an opinion of a single cocksucker playtester - and they outright refused to try the game with another one.

Fuck, this is an outrage! Yeah I overlooked that. The fact that they didn't even give the game a fair chance only makes it worse.

Crooked Bee

I don't know as approving games is way outside my scope. Sorry

I know, but you're the only GOG representative around these parts that I know of, and I needed to let GOG know how angry I was!

P.S. Can't you, like, convince a couple of your friends in the game approvement department to give ASA another chance?

 

[Whisky]

Come on! Gog has Myst and Scratches on there! Plus the game looks perfectly fine to me (I should really play it.).

 

[Raapys]

I keep hearing about Obsidian, but that stupid thing is impossible to get to run.

Schism I couldn't get a hold of, seem to remember reading it's the most difficult game of this type.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I keep hearing about Obsidian, but that stupid thing is impossible to get to run.

Schism I couldn't get a hold of, seem to remember reading it's the most difficult game of this type.

Schizm 2 is available on Gamersgate pretty cheap: http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-SCHIZM2/schizm-2-chameleon

 

[Raapys]

Oh, thanks a lot! Gonna give that one a try.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I started playing ASA tonight. It has great atmosphere and seems pretty good so far. I hadn't heard of it before this thread, thanks for the recommendation Crooked Bee.

 

[JudasIscariot]

Crooked Bee

I don't know as approving games is way outside my scope. Sorry

I know, but you're the only GOG representative around these parts that I know of, and I needed to let GOG know how angry I was!

P.S. Can't you, like, convince a couple of your friends in the game approvement department to give ASA another chance?

That's totally understandable

I don't do convincing all that well, especially since I am not in a position of authority. Sorry :/