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Myst Best indie/obscure Myst clones

Crane

Arcane
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Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Wrath
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.

:retarded:

Sounds like it could be good.

I bought this during the steam sale but my laptop can't really handle it. Has anyone else played this? How is it?
 

Whisky

The Solution
Joined
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Banjoville, British Columbia
Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera
Pyst is the obvious Myst clone, I guess... I haven't played it though.

It is stupid as shit.

It's not a game. It's a slideshow. You don't explore, you just click on the next slide and click on a few objects for humorous scenes. I guess that's kind of the joke, that Myst is about as interactive as a slideshow, but it did not make this worth paying for.

Now, keep in mind, I "played" it when I was seven or so, maybe the jokes were hilarious. But the fact is, the whole experience lasts about thirty minutes.
 

Zarniwoop

TESTOSTERONIC As Fuck™
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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Why do you call them Myst clones instead of Return to Zork clones, since that came before and was a much better game?
 

Aeschylus

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Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Divinity: Original Sin 2
Why do you call them Myst clones instead of Return to Zork clones, since that came before and was a much better game?
Probably because they tend to emulate (read: copy) the latter's gameplay mechanics more closely. Also RtZ, while not a terrible game, was nowhere near as popular or well-known as Myst.
 

Zarniwoop

TESTOSTERONIC As Fuck™
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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
It was at the time.. The Zork series was huge, while Myst only really became popular at around the time Riven and the others in the series launched.
 

Aeschylus

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Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Divinity: Original Sin 2
I think you're vastly underestimating just how popular Myst was, and overstating how well-received RtZ was at the time. Myst was *really* popular. And Zork, while awesome, never had anywhere near that kind of broad exposure. It's not wrong to say that 1st person adventure games predate Myst, but you did ask why they're called Myst-clones... If you wanna be all games-historian about it you could ask why they're not all called "Personal Nightmare-clones".
 

trustno1code

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La Pologne
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? :mad:

I am extremely disappoint, JudasIscariot
:rpgcodex:

The graphics in ASA are totally fine, by the way. I encourage everyone to give the game a try.
Yet again, the Gaben Empire trumps the gog peasantry:

ASA greenlit!

Also, as mentioned in that announcement, next game in the same vein is on the way called Catyph.
 

FeelTheRads

Arcane
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
13,716
Playing through Obsidian now.

Man, this game is fucking nice!
Curious that it's so obscure, but I suppose that's the fate of clones. Even if this is superior to Myst and probably to Riven too.
 
Joined
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sydney
@Agassi

if it was the gas collectors puzzle in schizm do not feel bad about not getting it.
the company who made the game screwed up the hint for it. they said something like each next gas chamber needs TWICE as much or something like that
instead of saying ONE MORE PART
it wasn't twice as much at all. someone screwed the pouch big time on that hint
I remember when the game came out i didn't play it for like 5 years because of that puzzle and when i finally resorted to a walkthrough and found that out.. i wanted to break something. by the way.. that's like the only really really hard part. the rest of the game wasn't too too hard. funny they put that gas collectors puzzle right near the beginning of the game too. never understood that :P

anyways,

the best myst clone i've ever played was "Lighthouse: the dark being" by sierra. it was nothing like the other sierra games. it was enigmatic and super-immersive like a myst game.

if you're really hard up for a first person game check out the ones that came out for macintosh in the 90's. there are some real gems there. most of the good ones are also for pc though..

here are some others i'm adding anyways:

physicus
bioscopia
biosys (hard as hell since there's time in the game but totally worth playing no matter what) (must use windows 95 to run it.. use VMware player)
mathica (german only/mac only but looks really good)
chemicus
the sacred mirror of kofun
lightbringer (fantastic. takes place on mars)
secrets of luxor
riddle of the sphinx
riddle of the sphinx 2 the omega stone
I 2nd ASA a space adventure GREAT GAME
all of the Atlantis games are good
the Aura games are half decent though their stories suck hard
The crystal key
The crystal key 2
echo: secrets of the lost cavern (great game althought not exactly like myst)
Mystery of the Nautilus (long forgotten jules verne game)
get the iphone version
the old pc version won't work even in a virtual machine

on a side note I suggest everyone get into the old infocom text adventures as well THEY AREN'T ALL LIKE ZORK
some good ones are:
seastalker
starcross
planetfall
stationfall
etc

I especially enjoyed starcross :)

the infocom collection is only like 10 bucks for the iphone so hella worth it
 
Last edited:
Joined
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anyways, if you want the most obscure then go for biosys but be prepared to fight an uphill battle

but if you want the most like myst feeling wise (but with an inventory)
go for Lighthouse: the dark being hands down
 

iqzulk

Augur
Joined
Apr 24, 2012
Messages
294
Oh man, Biosys.

Biosys is nigh unplayable without the manual (was there one? if there was, nobody sure bothered sharing one), because, well, you need the understanding of how the biodomes work, and what affects what - and the game kind of supposes you'll immediately know it due to your excessive telepathic abilities. And you can fuck things up there by just not closing the hatch to the dead bioshpere right after you trespass there almost right in the beginning of the game.

I always wanted to complete this game, because, well, I played it 15 years ago, as a kid (and yes, I shat tremendous amount of bricks due to that corpse in the dead biosphere), but, well, after another unsuccessful attempt, I read across the walkthrough to this game - and the only thing I remember about it is this deepest sense of confusion about just how the hell I was supposed to figure any of it out at all. It really felt like there was bound to be some sort of manual where the obscure stuff (about how the biosphere functions and about what affects what) is explained before you start the game (and the main character is supposed to know it as well!) - but I wasn't able to find any. And without it, the only other option for me was basically recreating the steps from the walkthrough blindly (because I didn't understand just how the hell the guy managed to derive those exact steps from what I saw thus far in the game) - and, frankly, screw that way of playing an adventure game. I still do want to complete this game one day in the future (because it was kind of an important game for me back then, 15 years ago), but I genuinely don't know just how the hell I am supposed to approach it.

Oh, and it works absolutely fine on, at least, winXP (Start menu -> Run -> dxdiag -> set hardware graphics acceleration to minimum or turn it off entirely, do not remember which one; the game should run absolutely fine after that; change it back after the play session ends).

Also, the gas puzzle from Schizm is just a reskin of a famous "weighing the coins" problem. Of course, the ingame contextualization of it is incorrect (from what I remember) so, I guess, it boils down to whether you know that particular problem and manage to recognize it being there from the first glance (the other thing it boils down to is that the puzzles in Schizms probably just weren't very well thought out). Still, I wouldn't place the gas puzzle among the most terrible of this game's vices. The part that managed to get me personally every time I attempted to complete this game was the Bosch's tunnels (there is a rant about it on one of the previous pages of this thread).
 

PotatoElemental

Educated
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Jun 15, 2014
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Land of the Rising Potato
I'm seconding Beyond Atlantis. The game has wonderful atmosphere and some really nice puzzles. I especially liked the Chinese part, although the jungle bit in the Aztec area was suffering for my young self, always got lost there.

Also, is anyone familiar with the Darkness Within series? It's first-person and heavily inspired by Lovecraft stories (as in, completely based on them).
 
Joined
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Messages
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sydney
Oh man, Biosys.

Biosys is nigh unplayable without the manual (was there one? if there was, nobody sure bothered sharing one), because, well, you need the understanding of how the biodomes work, and what affects what - and the game kind of supposes you'll immediately know it due to your excessive telepathic abilities. And you can fuck things up there by just not closing the hatch to the dead bioshpere right after you trespass there almost right in the beginning of the game.

I always wanted to complete this game, because, well, I played it 15 years ago, as a kid (and yes, I shat tremendous amount of bricks due to that corpse in the dead biosphere), but, well, after another unsuccessful attempt, I read across the walkthrough to this game - and the only thing I remember about it is this deepest sense of confusion about just how the hell I was supposed to figure any of it out at all. It really felt like there was bound to be some sort of manual where the obscure stuff (about how the biosphere functions and about what affects what) is explained before you start the game (and the main character is supposed to know it as well!) - but I wasn't able to find any. And without it, the only other option for me was basically recreating the steps from the walkthrough blindly (because I didn't understand just how the hell the guy managed to derive those exact steps from what I saw thus far in the game) - and, frankly, screw that way of playing an adventure game. I still do want to complete this game one day in the future (because it was kind of an important game for me back then, 15 years ago), but I genuinely don't know just how the hell I am supposed to approach it.

Oh, and it works absolutely fine on, at least, winXP (Start menu -> Run -> dxdiag -> set hardware graphics acceleration to minimum or turn it off entirely, do not remember which one; the game should run absolutely fine after that; change it back after the play session ends).

Also, the gas puzzle from Schizm is just a reskin of a famous "weighing the coins" problem. Of course, the ingame contextualization of it is incorrect (from what I remember) so, I guess, it boils down to whether you know that particular problem and manage to recognize it being there from the first glance (the other thing it boils down to is that the puzzles in Schizms probably just weren't very well thought out). Still, I wouldn't place the gas puzzle among the most terrible of this game's vices. The part that managed to get me personally every time I attempted to complete this game was the Bosch's tunnels (there is a rant about it on one of the previous pages of this thread).

[SPOILER WARNING]
actually I don't think you have to focus on manipulating the biodomes as much as you think. the object of the game is to escape not to save the domes so I'd try another attempt but focusing on that. I think the biodome controls are more there to help you along in the story like how you turn off that rain tap to access the south area.. though you sure can kill one of the ecosystems by changing things.. Last time I played it.. i got to the central control of the biodomes but by the time i got there the ocean biosphere had died so I'm going to have to try that again unless that's part of the story..

hmm.. whenever i tried to run it on XP the screen would end up squished into a horizontal line
I think it's best to use a virtual machine for this one anyways though because you can slow down the game just a little bit that way.
geez that game clock moves too fast. by the time you do anything your character is already tired, hungry, sleepy, etc
that aspect of it really interrupted the pace at which an adventure game should be played and enjoyed
either way though I find the game mystifying and I have to beat it eventually :)
 
Joined
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sydney
some more:
reah
rhem 1-4 (of course)
Alida: the enigmatic giant

if you liked return to mysterious island (not exactly myst like but 1st person)
journey to the moon
return to mysterious island 2
mystery of the nautilus (as mentioned above- get the iphone version since the pc version won't work)
secrets of da vinci the forbidden manuscript
nostradamus the last prophecy
I agree that destination: treasure island was fantastic

...by the way does anyone know if the new releases of rhem 1&2 have improved graphics?
I would by both of them again if that were the case
 

PotatoElemental

Educated
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Jun 15, 2014
Messages
47
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Land of the Rising Potato
Also, I know it doesn't really count as a Myst-like, but I would consider it a first-person adventure game. Anyways, Pathologic is such a magnificent game that it deserves a mention in any list of games IMO.

A game where the atmosphere is so palpable it actually makes me react to it the very moment I load up the game. Bizarre, sometimes grotesque, sometimes downright scary, at all times mesmerizing and fascinating. It's a shame that the translation is so wack, almost makes you want to learn Russian just to play it in the original version.
 
Joined
Jun 18, 2014
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15
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sydney
doesn't pathologic have shooting in it?
sounds like more of a survival horror with some adventure elements
like silent hill, dino crisis or early resident evil
 
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almost forgot about this gem:

Titanic: adveture out of time

only crappy thing with this one is that there's a lot of dialogue unlike myst but you really feel like you're there on the titanic and it's not some lovey dovey thing like the movie :p
you can run out of time and have the ship sink on you but it's unlikely if you're a seasoned adventure gamer and don't leave the game running while eating super or whatever. SAVE ALOT either way
 
Joined
Jun 18, 2014
Messages
15
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sydney
I played Darkstar: the interactive movie
over the weekend

I have to warn you guys about this:
----------------------------------------------------------
READ this.. you will seriously regret it if you don't

minor SPOILER WARNING:

do NOT pick up the gun in one of the crew cabins..

You will get to the end of the game and have to start it over at the very beginning because you picked up the wrong one :/
you can't even swap it for the right one.. you are completely boned if you pick that up.

so... angry

--------------------------------------------------------
talk about being punished for not using a walkthrough
I think this is the main reason the game got such bad ratings even though it's pretty decent other than the puzzles being too easy/the game crashing too much

the acting was terrible too... i do still recommend this one though, because the atmosphere was incredible
 
Last edited:
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some more:

the darkside of the moon
aztec
egypt 1156 b.c. tomb of the pharaoh
(the original version has that game time linked to the clock speed problem that makes the mouse move way too fast)
Iron Helix
shivers 1&2
Cleopatra: a queen's destiny
Amerzone
Drowned God
Morpheus
Gadget
Sentinel: descendants in time
all of the journeyman project games
(obviously)
Myst URU if you haven't played that of course.. that IS a myst game though :P
The Five Cores (the system requirements are lies! it won't work unless you have a shader model 4.0 graphics card)
 

tuluse

Arcane
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Jul 20, 2008
Messages
11,400
Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong
stateofpsychosis can you give a little description of the games and what you think of them instead of just listing titles? Hard to know if they'll be interesting or not from a title.
 
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sydney
k,

the darkside of the moon haven't played it yet. it looks like one of the ones that has a big annoying frame around the window like the journeyman games.
aztec have it on the iphone. yet to have played it. it looks sort of like the first atlantis game.
egypt 1156 b.c. tomb of the pharaoh (the original version has that game time linked to the clock speed problem that makes the mouse move way too fast) never really liked this game anyways.
Iron Helix another one with an annoying frame around the game window. have it but haven't beaten it yet.
shivers 1&2 both great classics by sierra. not scary at all like the game suggests.
Cleopatra: a queen's destiny great game. very interesting. just wish it was longer.
Amerzone absolutely fantastic Benoit Sokal game. both stunning and very fun to play.
Drowned God My disk is scratched so I couldn't beat it, but the game seemed really good.
Morpheus fantastic game. highly recommend this one.
Gadget everyone seems to love this game. I found it too easy, but it's highly rated.
Sentinel: descendants in time Definitely one to play if you're looking for a myst like game. extremely hard though.
all of the journeyman project games (obviously) great games I just always hated the damn frame they put around the game window. and having to use the arrows to move rather than the mouse is a bit annoying.
Myst URU if you haven't played that of course.. that IS a myst game though :P loved it. although this game just like myst 5 is an example of how much better pre-rendered graphics look than 3d. seriously, cyan go back to pre rendered. this 3d graphics don't come close.
The Five Cores (the system requirements are lies! it won't work unless you have a shader model 4.0 graphics card) can't play it until i upgrade my computer.
Titanic: adventure out of time this one is really interesting and immersive but there's a lot of dialogue in the game which can get a bit tiresome and you can run out of time in the game.. this is unlikely to happen though. i beat it on the first try myself.
reah definitely recommend it. it's very odd but enjoyable.
rhem 1-4 (of course) love all of these games. if you haven't played them yet do yourself a favor and pick them up. you can play them in any order. it doesn't matter.
Alida: the enigmatic giant also a great game. there are some really tough puzzles in it. there's an audio puzzle in it that's really annoying in it though so be prepared for that. the story was kind of stupid though. a giant guitar? really?
journey to the moon this one was good but the other journey games were better, because the puzzles get a bit repetitive once you get to the moon.
return to mysterious island both this and the sequel below are both really fun to play. you can do a lot more with your inventory in these games like disassembling objects and whatnot.
return to mysterious island 2
mystery of the nautilus (get the iphone version since the pc version won't work) I really liked this one although it can be kind of hard at times. the iphone version is sadly missing a lot of the puzzles from the original game. it's like a cut down version of it. big fish games must have done this one. stop simplifying everything you tools :P
secrets of da vinci the forbidden manuscript these next two games have extremely similar game play. I enjoyed both of them thoroughly. I recommend them both.
nostradamus the last prophecy
destination: treasure island is in the same vein as the mysterious island games. I found it to be a lot of fun to play. really got me into it.
physicus has educational elements but the game is fun to play either way... bioscopia was better though.
bioscopia this was my favorite out of the series but be prepared to learn about biology.
biosys (hard as hell since there's time in the game but totally worth playing no matter what) (must use windows 95 to run it.. use VMware player)
a warning about this game.. you have to feed your character, sleep, drink, manage the biosphere environments, etc.. but the game clock moves way way too fast so it really interrupts the pace at which and adventure should be played and enjoyed... but either way it's one of those games that has you enthralled by the mysterious, enigmatic game world. you still have to play it, but it's one of those game that you don't beat for 10 years :P
mathica (german only/mac only but looks really good)
chemicus this is one from the series i haven't played yet. it's educational but if it's anything like bioscopia it's not so educational that it's not fun.
the sacred mirror of kofun this one can crash on certain systems. I haven't played much of it yet. it starts out on a boat. seems like a normal 1st person adventure though.
lightbringer (fantastic. takes place on mars) I give this one the highest rating i can give it. terribly hard but was it ever fun to play.
secrets of luxor it's a bit of a groaner puzzle wise but it's definitely a good one.
riddle of the sphinx Both of these 2 games are fanastic and should be near the top of your list. i liked the 2nd one ever better than the first but both were great.
riddle of the sphinx 2 the omega stone
ASA a space adventure fantastic. only thing is that i wish the game was a bit longer.
all of the Atlantis games are good
the Aura games are half decent though their stories suck hard
The crystal key the crystal key games are kind of par. they're not the greatest by any standard. the graphics in the first one are awful. 5 out of 10. worth playing if you're desperate.
The crystal key 2
echo: secrets of the lost cavern this one is very enjoyable to play. more of a stoneage theme.
L-Zone this game is weird. I haven't gotten into it yet
Opsys this one is weird too. it has a strange VR system for most of the game that I kind of hate.

I'll probably have more games to add to the list as soon as I remember them
 

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