In my youth, I adored Myst and its sequel Riven. However, Riven pushed my then-aging PC to its processing limits. So when Myst III: Exile launched in 2001, I was forced to skip it. Cut to 25 years later — after thoroughly enjoying the recent Riven remake, I decided it was time to step forward with the series. It was finally time for me to learn what happened to Atrus and Catherine after the events of Riven.
Pragmatic Prologue
Myst and Riven told their stories through a unique blend of journals, environmental clues, and live action FMV cutscenes. This trend continues in Exile, with far more FMV than I had anticipated.
When last we left off, player-character “The Stranger” rescued Atrus and Catherine from the crumbling remains of the age of Riven. After some time, The Stranger reunites with Atrus and Catherine in the idyllic age of Tomahna. This realm serves as the site of our prologue (and epilogue). Here, we learn that Atrus has been crafting a new age for the surviving people of D’ni, called Releeshahn. Just before he can finish his work, however, surprise! An entirely new character pops out of the ether, nabs the Releeshahn book, sets Atrus’ home on fire, and hops through an entirely different linking book.
Atrus recognizes the man, Saavedro, and insists the Stranger be the one to chase him down in Atrus’ place. So you hop into this linking book and start the game properly in the age of J’nanin. We’re now in a mad dash to chase down Saavedro, get the book back, and hopefully nobody dies in the process!
Through a mix of journal entries and FMV footage of Saavedro talking *at* the player (no dialogue options here, folks!), a few revelations occur in the next hour of gameplay: J’nanin and its linked ages were training grounds Atrus built for his sons (Sirrus and Achenar, from the first Myst) to learn about creating and maintaining these realms; Saavedro hails from a now-ruined age called Narayan, which was presumably destroyed by the aforementioned psychotic duo while Atrus was presumably busying himself with other things; Saavedro has reset and rewritten some of the key puzzles and rules of these training ages in some sick game to toy with Atrus’ mind before finally confronting (killing?) him; Saavedro never gets a good enough look at the Stranger during the entire early game to realize it’s not Atrus who followed him.
My immediate takeaway? I feel horrible for Saavedro. Even if it’s his sons who committed the crime, Atrus has a lot to answer for. Writing whole civilizations into existence willy-nilly and then leaving them not only to their own fates, but potentially to the whims of your sons, basically puts you into Greek pantheon territory. Within the span of two hours, all of my feelings about Atrus changed.
Even so, I want to get the Releeshahn book back, and maybe help Saavedro find peace? And I absolutely want to confront Atrus. So, I continue forward.
Exploring, Expanding
Players may remember that, with a few brief exceptions, Riven took place in its self-contained Age, but across five separate islands with linked puzzles. This was a significant departure from the original Myst, wherein the age of Myst itself had linking books to four Ages for puzzle-solving and exploration galore before reaching endgame. In Myst III: Exile, we return to the formula of the first game. After solving some cool puzzles, as well as a trio of exceptionally annoying puzzles involving sliding marbles and camera focus shenanigans, I was able to gain access to the three training-ground ages linked to J’nanin.
While you can visit these three in any order, I first visited Voltaic, a beautifully crafted world dedicated to industry and technology that harnessed various forms of energy. Here I started to appreciate one of the key evolutionary points in the Myst series: six degrees of freedom. Clicking from one spot to another, yes, you are standing still in one place. But the image in front of the player is not one pre-rendered flat image. Instead, it’s a pre-rendered wraparound in every possible direction. I first noticed this in J’nanin, but in Voltaic I realized how much of a game-changer this was. Visually, it was phenomenal. I was taking in every cleft in the rocks, every nook in the carved stonework, the shift from sky to sea. I can’t help but think about what a great achievement this was for 2001 — it also explains why my dated PC couldn’t handle this game!
With this impressive addition comes a bit of navigation confusion. In Myst and Riven, changes in the cursor let the player know if clicking in certain spots might cause them to turn left, turn right, turn 180 degrees, look up, look down, or continue forward. Now the rule is simply ‘continue in the direction you’re currently facing’ with the pointed-finger cursor. This cursor only changes for zoom-in and zoom-out functions, or the grippy-hand cursor shows up to indicate opportunities to grab an object or interact with a switch or lever.
These navigational challenges didn’t bother me much throughout Voltaic. And when I reached the end of this age’s puzzle sequence, revealing a special symbol (conveniently drawn by the player and tucked away into the inventory), I felt like I had achieved something special with just the right amount of difficulty. No walkthroughs required. Voltaic, I give you a chef’s kiss of approval and gratitude.
Next, I stumbled into Amateria: an age dedicated to physics, elemental energy, and co-opting Asian architecture. During my time in Amateria, I had the following insights: the environmental storytelling in Exile is really strong; these puzzles can be incredibly challenging, but they are fair; despite compression artifacts, the lengthy cutscene at the end of Amateria might be the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen in any graphic adventure. This was a great experience.
All good things come to an end, though. For me, that end was Edanna, a nature-based age wherein the Stranger basically explores a giant tree. Though beautiful, I found some of the puzzles to be inscrutable. Even after reviewing all the journals and the object lessons provided in J’nanin, there were times where the solution to a puzzle involved interactions with creatures in ways you couldn’t predict. Perhaps the most frustrating were the light mirror puzzles utilizing a set of flowers. I came up with a logical alternate solution to it, but the game refused to acknowledge it as valid. Beyond the mirror orchids, I was even more perplexed by the giant spore-filled blue flower bulb. This area also made 6DoF exploration incredibly difficult. I would’ve given anything to have the Myst and Riven cursor hints for valid pathing, or the freedom to walk seamlessly as in RealMyst or the recent Riven remake. This intermediate step worked elsewhere, but it was a personal hell in what should have been an Eden.
Focused Frequencies
Before heading into Exile‘s endgame scenario, I’d like to reflect on Exile‘s sound design.
As with many modern games, three aspects of the sound design are worth considering: music, sound effects, and voice acting. Starting with the voice acting: Saavedro has the majority of the lines in this game, and his delivery is excellent. His outfit and his weird hammer freak me out, but his face and voice are unforgettable. In fact, some of you out there might recognize Saavedro’s actor, Brad Dourif. He had a long acting history prior to Exile, including a key role in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and the voice of Chucky in the Child’s Play series. Immediately after Exile, he played the villainous Gríma Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Dourif’s skill as a seasoned actor puts him head and shoulders over our would-be hero Atrus, played by Myst co-creator Rand Miller.
Speaking of the Miller brothers, Rand’s brother Robyn took a step back from the music composition role in Exile, handing the reins over to then-newcomer Jack Wall (who would go on to work on future Myst titles, as well as the Mass Effect series and some other major projects. While there is a big part of me that misses the minimalist, ambient style of Robyn Miller’s music in Myst and Riven, there’s no doubt in my mind that the more melodic- and motif-focused work from Jack Wall fits the more active design and approach to developer Presto Studios’ vision for the graphic adventure. As an aside, I think Wall’s soundtrack to Myst III: Exile serves as a superior standalone listening experience to Robyn Miller’s work, unless you’re seeking that kick of nostalgia for the games themselves.
Sound effects are a significant aspect throughout the Myst series. Not only do they indicate the shifting and sliding of doors, walls, switches, levers and more, sometimes the sounds produced need to be memorized by the player as part of a larger puzzle. Anyone who played Riven remembers, likely with some disdain, the insanity of the animal-symbol puzzle to access the Moiety Age. Fortunately, the sound-based puzzles in Exile aren’t half as complex, and the sounds come through crystal clear and with decent repetition in all the places where it matters. Ambient noises throughout each age are also fitting without becoming overbearing.
Exasperating Epilogue(s)
After retracing the steps Atrus designed for his own sons, now used as a darker “teaching tool” by Saavedro, the Stranger finally gains access to the ruined age of Narayan. Yes, Saavedro’s home world, where he claims Sirrus and Achenar killed everyone (save for him) and left only a tiny floating island amidst an expanse of waste, is the place for the final standoff.
What happens here? First, the Stranger solves a very difficult puzzle. Conceptually, most players will quickly figure out what’s going on. Sadly, the input mechanism requires precision, and some drawings don’t perfectly fit the overlapping-circle structure of D’ni writings. Personally, I had to rely on walkthroughs to fix tiny errors of my own (much like the marble puzzles earlier on).
All puzzles solved, and the Stranger sees a clear path to a happy ending; not just for Atrus and Catherine, but for Saavedro too! One problem: Saavedro doesn’t trust you for a moment, and he gives you plenty of reason not to trust him. The *true* final puzzle involves finding a way to get the Releeshahn book back into your own hands. Saavedro sees a way forward and proposes it to you. He tells you to stay back and use some levers that allow him to take a gondola farther out into Narayan, and in turn, he’ll give you the book.
…except, no. If you do the sane and decent thing, he hops on the gondola and takes the book with him. You’re left to return to Tomahna without the one thing Atrus needed, everyone is sad, roll credits on a bad ending.
Through a series of trial-and-error saves and loads that you, the player, are left to conclude that Saavedro is too far gone to be reasoned with. This is a limitation of the game’s system, in my opinion. Atrus is, at the very least, indirectly responsible for Saavedro’s condition. But because the Stranger is a silent protagonist, players are left to stand there dumbfounded with no dialogue options, when a simple exchange of words could have served as a legitimate path to peace and harmony.
Instead, the game forces the player, as the Stranger, to *further torture* Saavedro’s mind to get the true ending. You still help him get to Narayan, yes. But first you have to play a sick game of chicken by shutting down power to the devices deactivating the bubbles around the floating island. Saavedro screams in despair, stuck behind a barred gate and with no access to the world outside. Recognizing you have the power, he gives over his one piece of leverage: the Releeshahn book. At this point, the player can open the gondola’s path for Saavedro before you return to Tomahna and get the true ending.
(There are additional options here for less-than-ideal endings. One of them is fully psychopathic and I’m not going to talk about it.)
This is where I just become livid. The only way to get the best ending is to deal massive psychic damage to the only ‘sympathetic’ villain in the Myst series so far. I get that the final puzzle here serves as something akin to a police-and-prisoner river-crossing problem. But it’s a terrible idea. It really makes me sick that I have to hurt Saavedro to help him.
Furthermore, the game simply ends with the Stranger returning the book and Atrus then rambling during the epilogue about how he can now help the people of D’ni. But by now, I really stopped caring about all that. All I want to know is if Narayan is actually okay, if Saavedro gets his own happy ending. Sadly, the game’s ending(s) offer no answers in this regard. None.
Simple Summary
Wildly problematic ending sequence aside, I came away from Myst III: Exile feeling a great sense of accomplishment for all the puzzle-solving I had done, and with due appreciation for all of the artists and designers who put this beautiful game together. With only a handful of exceptions, the puzzle-solving aspects were just the right amount of challenge. And I really can’t get enough of Brad Dourif as Saavedro.
Myst III: Exile was definitely good enough for me to decide I want to continue with the series, as I am hoping to play Myst IV: Revelation next! We’ll see if Sirrus and Achenar can be redeemed after all the damage they’ve done.
