Deconstruction: MYST - Part III: Story

The story of MYST is subtle and environment-driven.  There is little interaction with other characters, and the protagonist is silent throughout the game.

You don't know much at the beginning of the game.  The opening cinematic is mysterious and alludes to something much larger that you can't wrap your head around.

After that, you could boil down the description of all you know to a simple Adventure game description "You find yourself on an island."

You are given almost nothing, and you find yourself exploring in hopes of figuring out what you're even supposed to do.

Yet, if you can piece all the clues together, it presents a disturbing look at tyrants, blood betrayal, murder, imprisonment, lies, deceit, drugs, and torture.

The major difference between the story of MYST and that of most other games is that the story is not given to you; you have to find it for yourself.  There are no "cutscenes", per se, no chokepoints where story can be thrust upon you; there are only a handful of journals which survived being burned (which, as one of the few faults of MYST, it is far too much of a coincidence that the journals with descriptions of the Ages you are to visit are almost the only ones to survive the fire).

The narrative is interactive in MYST, which is part of what led to its success.  You felt like an archeologist, uncovering the stories of the dead, discovering the horrors and secrets of this world through exploration.

Not quite like that.

Just about the only direct clue given to you at the beginning of the game is Atrus' note to Catherine, which spells out where to find a recorded message of his.  After that, you're on your own.

While most games of the time (and still today) separated story from gameplay, MYST did its best to mingle the two together.

Read Part IV:  The First Puzzle