If you've never played a graphics adventure game, you are in for a treat. The graphics adventure game is a different way to tell a story, but the key differences are you are immersed with the sights and sounds of this new world and you can take your time to explore and manipulate. And you will affect the story's outcome.
On your journey through Myst you will encounter many obstacles, conflicts or puzzles which will require you to stop and think of a solution. Different people will solve puzzles in different ways. Myst is more fun to play as a team of two or more people than individually because people see things differently (and the youngest always surprises everyone). However, Myst can be enjoyed to its fullest in solitare, also.
The Myst game is non-linear. In other words, you are not required to do things in any set order. However, there may be some puzzles that require you to do things in a certain sequence.
Enjoy your surroundings. Don't rush and be patient. Sometimes you can't solve something until you have found or learned something else. If you can't solve something right away, set it aside and look for something else. Then when you have exhausted everything you can find, then come back to this hint area.
Be curious. It can't hurt. Anything you do can be undone (except for the endings). Explore everything. Look for clues in small or inconspicuous places.
The Myst interface is very simple. You use the hand cursor to point and click to places you want to go or manipulate objects. If nothing happens then either you can't go there (or you'd die and we wouldn't that to happen!) or the object value is in viewing it only.
The hand cursor sometimes will tell you which direction you can go when it is to the left, right or down. The grabby hand (a hand that is clenched) is also used when you can click and drag (ie. push down on the right mouse button and hold it down while moving the mouse) or grab something to pull on it, such as a lever. The grabby hand is also used to shows you can link (or transport) through a book into a new world, such as in the opening sequence of the game.
There is no inventory. You can pick up only a few selected items and you will carry them in your hand and the hand cursor will change to show you are carrying that item. When that happens the cursor will act just like it did when it was a pointy finger. Left, right and down cursors will not show the item you are carrying, but it is still there.
Myst does have a save game option. But unlike other games you should only have to save the game when you are ready to stop playing. The only exception is near the end of the game where there are different possible endings, not all them desirable.
Also, in the PC and Mac versions of Myst, after you have saved a game, when you restore it you will be at where you enter the age and not at the exact location where you saved it at. After all, you can only enter an Age through a Linking Book, which enters you always at the same spot.
Go back to Myst Island -- the beginning of the Myst hint area