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The bestselling computer game of the twentieth-century — and the twenty-first, until The Sims knocked it from its perch in 2002 — point-and-click adventure Myst was a pre-rendered graphical wonder when it arrived in 1993, remaining on top 10 bestseller lists for years thereafter.
Navigating a vacant island-world populated by planetariums, sunken ships, marble pillars, clock towers, abandoned lighthouses and retro spaceships, players clicked along, step-by-step, interacting with often deviously complex puzzles embedded in the game’s architecture, searching for pages of mysterious color-themed books to unlock the game’s elliptical science-fantasy tale.
There’s another important reason we remember Myst: It helped usher in the CD-ROM era, perhaps more than any other game (including Trilobyte’s The 7th Guest), prompting users to upgrade their desktops to experience the game’s lavish, unparalleled and still today impactful visuals.