MYST 1993-2021 Comparison: Original vs Remaster & Remakes

Here is my comparison for the new Riven remake: https://youtu.be/jLCGegxqu3Q

Much as I like to see realistic graphics, I feel the 2021 version loses something in translation when it uses that grundgy brown color shading and fog. One of the appeals of Myst for me was the surreal vibrance of the world, like exploring a dreamscape. The newest one feels more like a Fallout NV mod than Myst.

For those talking about the FMV sequences not being in the new Myst, they just added the option to enable them in a new update!

While the latest remake has better graphics, I think the other remake from 2014 does the best job of bringing the original to modern graphics while still retaining the art/atmosphere of the original. Plus, it's much cheaper than MYST 2020/21, so I think I'll go with the 2014 version for my first time ever to play Myst. Thanks for the excellent and in-depth comparison video!

2021 version is too warm in colors - all is orange and yellow. First iterations were spooky and mysterious because of gray, silver, metal colors

The new 2021 version looks lovely, but the change to 3d models for the cutscenes is pretty disappointing. My choice would be to play the 2014 version, it's a really nice balance of decent graphics and live-action FMV edit: it's great to hear that they patched in the option to choose what cutscene style you prefer! that's a very nice change!

I just remember everyone being so blown away by how real the original game looked, and it was a literal game changer for years. Everyone compared every other game to Myst. Like, "oh wow it has graphics like Myst!" Now, seeing it again for the first time in almost 30 years, I can't believe we ever found it so hyper-realistic. Makes me wonder how much better graphics will be 30 years from now.

I feel like every time they remake Myst they tried to go more and more toward photorealism as much as was technically possible at the time - this time however they seem to go for a more "Pixar" or animated movie look. It's taking the game in a very different direction and as many have pointed out it makes it lose the atmosphere.

I love the details in the newest version, but the 3D faces and the yellow light on the island are not true to the original game. If they fixed those two things, we would have a winner in the graphics department. However, the 1993 version holds a special place in my heart as I remember playing this game with my dad back then. Great memories. Edit: also, there was something really great about the old way of moving around, the lower res graphics, and only seeing one picture at a time. You kind of had to use your imagination a lot more to fill out the “blanks” whereas the new 3D versions with free movements makes the whole setting less interesting and less mysterious to me and not much imagination is required from the player.

My dad was so happy when I told him that there would be a 2021 version of this game. He was so happy that he bought the game for me. It will be my first time playing it. We will both experience this for the first time in 4k ultra, with RTX turned on. I look forward to playing this.

I kinda like the 2014 version better.

Thanks for this video. The 2014 version seems faithful and amplifies that elusive "early CG feel" that is both otherworldly, lush, and a little too clean. The 2021 version is confusingly bare and instagram-filtery with some really terrible 3D animations when all it needed to be was a higher-poly, smoother update of 2014. Not ugly, but just a string of poor art direction choices for the Myst series.

I think the only part of the previous versions I liked better are the use of live actors for the people. The CGI versions loses a lot of their character.

While the 2021 version is technically the most advanced, I like the presentation and atmosphere of 2014 much better - except for the day/night cycle that can't be turned off. I'd stick to 2014 if it wasn't for the possibility to play the 2021 in VR.

Here's the thing, the 2021 has come to Gamepass, and I had no Idea that there's other versions after the 1993 original version. I downloaded the 2021 version expecting to be the original with higher resolution images, and I was blown away to see the game being rendered in real time with free movement! I always felt fascinated by the original, but at same time, the way you move, it was always off putting to me, so I never really played until the end, but it was always on my radar to play it and finish for good. And I was blown away again with your video, never imagined the real time 3d was already achieved in a 2000 version, woah! And at same time, is very strange that so many real time 3d remakes were made, 2000, 2014, 2021...! I feel like I have to finish all the versions just to know each one and drawn comparisons! For now, I'm loving the 2021 version, it has updated graphics, but still feel a product of it's time (which is a good thing on my book!). Congrats for the video, very well produced to compare the same environments and moments in the game.

i like 2014 Unity engine the best; modern but faithful to the original. the 2021 unreal version has a yellow haze lighting. and those 3D book talking heads are awful

I think I got a copy of Myst in 1999 when my parents came back from a conference with a copy of it, mistakenly thinking it was an educational game. They also came back with Operation Neptune and the Broderbund game about the Zoombinis. Anyway, I brute-forced my way through Myst, at the time not having an internet connection to help me figure it out. I enjoyed it so much that my parents eventually brought home Riven and then later Exile. My little sister watched me brute-force my way through Myst and then started playing it herself and got much more into adventure games than I ever was.

Thanks for this! As others have said, looking at this vid, I prefer the 2014 version. Mostly because of the atmosperic effects shown here. That brownish haze really destroys the original atmosphere I felt in the original. (my first or second game I actually bought myself!)

The original pre rendered is still my all time favorite, though VR support is cool. The original images or more like surrealist pieces of art. The primitive 3D has a real magical and strange vibe to it that loses its quality when converted to realtime 3D

I love that Myst is available to new people with all the bells and whistles expected these days. My heart will always still be with the 90s Mac classic version I played ages ago.