Myst in Retrospect
Newly revised and expanded for the 30th anniversary of the series in 2023, Myst in Retrospect is a collection of essays exploring the groundbreaking adventure game series. Covering the good and the bad, the sublime and the bizarre, it's a journey that's familiar yet new, part nostalgic ramble, part retrospective.
These essays began as a series of posts on my blog that ran from 2012 through 2013. The first print edition was published in 2016. The new 2023 edition features original illustrations for every chapter, a new essay about the history of Myst re-makes (including Myst in VR), and additional material throughout.
Essay index (2016 version)
The revised versions of the essays will be debuting online soon, but in the meantime, feel free to peruse these older versions.
- Myst. Bring the red pages! Or the blue pages.
- The Book of Atrus. Your first dose of backstory.
- Riven. The Moby-Dick of adventure games.
- The Book of D'ni. In which Atrus violates the Prime Directive.
- Exile. The one with Brad Dourif in it.
- Revelation. How Yeesha got so screwed up.
- The Book of Ti'ana. A girl gets into the clubhouse and ruins everything.
- Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. Surprise! The D'ni were the bad guys the whole time.
- Uru: To D'ni. You found the thingies! Next: find more thingies.
- Uru: The Path of the Shell. The answer is fifteen minutes.
- End of Ages. No fear, Esher's here!
- The Great Tree of Possibilities. Final thoughts on the series.