Your objective is to collect four Slates and bring them back to the starting point, where you can unlock the Tablet lying on the pedestal. In addition, the slates are tools on which you can write symbols that cause certain events to happen or even enable you to communicate with the strange creatures roaming the game. You might be able to get them to do your bidding.

Nowhere To Go But Down. The mysterious valley where you begin the game.

With your main objective accomplished, you get to decide not only the end of the entire Myst story but also the fate of the D’ni people. We probably don’t have to tell you to choose wisely. We know you’ll make the right decision.

The End of the Beginning?

“This is where the Myst series has led to,” explains Rand Miller, who co-created the original Myst game with his brother, Robyn, in 1993. “[This game] marks the end of this part of the story,” he adds cryptically.

“The power in the Myst games is the ability to ‘create’ new worlds through the art of writing. And the negative consequences are evident in every game.”

- Rand Miller

Enigmatic to the end, Miller prefers that you experience the adventure for yourself, rather than give away his master plan. Suffice it to say, however, that he and his brother had no clue the original game would be so successful, which has enabled the series to continue through four sequels.

“Our original goals were simply to create a place that would become your world — a virtual environment that would begin to feel like you were really there,” Miller says.

Access Denied. Those bridges lead to other Ages, but first you must figure out how to unlock their gates.

Lose Yourself

In Myst V, Miller and his development team have taken the idea of a virtual environment as far as they could, adding an option that allows you to move through the world in a free-form manner. While you can still play the game in the original point-and-click mode, this method enables you to literally explore every nook and cranny.

In addition, the live-action actors of past installments have been replaced by new 3D characters who move and talk realistically. You’ll notice that the real-time environment they inhabit is alive with all kinds of activity, from earthquakes that rock the underground caverns to bats that randomly flit by to strange creatures that scurry out of your way as you approach them.

Start Making Sense. The purpose of some objects may only become clear after you’ve spent more time playing the game.

“Over the years,” says Miller, “the Myst games have become increasingly sophisticated, culminating in Myst V, where we offer striking graphics that players can walk smoothly through. But the goal has always been to have players turn down the lights, turn up the sound and lose themselves in our alternate worlds.”

“The goal has always been to have players turn down the lights, turn up the sound and lose themselves in our alternate worlds.”

- Rand Miller

Negative Consequences

Miller notes that the overriding theme of the Myst series “is the idea that power corrupts. Even good people’s lives can be affected in negative ways when they suddenly gain access to power.”

He adds: “The power in the Myst games is the ability to ‘create’ new worlds through the art of writing. And the negative consequences are evident in every game.”

Those concepts tie in nicely with the slates that are a major part of the gameplay in Myst V. While you must still click on a variety of world elements to solve puzzles and figure out how to move on to the next Age, the slates add a new level of interactivity. You use them to write the arcane symbols you find around the environment; through trial and error, you can cause things to happen or command the creatures to perform certain tasks.

More Questions Than Answers. Esher occasionally pops in to help you, more or less.

“The slate allows players to have a taste of the power of writing,” Miller explains. “It gives them the ability to change the world by learning and writing symbols on the slates. From a gameplay perspective, it gives us a very unique interface element, a new, interesting and believable way for players to interact with the creatures in the game.”

As we said, power corrupts. Don’t let this new ability go to your head.

Savor the Moment

The Miller brothers formed Cyan Worlds (originally known simply as Cyan) with the intent of building worlds, starting with their very first children’s games. Lessons learned during the development of those titles helped them launch a best-selling adventure series for adults, and Miller reveals that since then, he and his team have “learned something from every game” along the way.

Cryptic Designs. Books you find along the way contain all kinds of strange but wondrous diagrams.

“We look back and see what worked and what didn’t work,” he says. “Ironically, I think that for Myst V we went back to some of the successful elements from the very first Myst.”

How the first and last chapters tie together, however, is for Miller to know and you to find out. Don’t despair, though, that this is the end of Myst forever: “There is a lot more story and history in the D’ni universe that surrounds Myst,” Miller explains, “and we may release more in the form of a fourth novel.

“But take your time exploring Myst V — it may be a while before there are any more Myst worlds to explore.”

If you liked this game, check out:

• The Journey to Wild Divine
• Myst III: Exile
• Myst IV: Revelation
• realMYST
• Rhem
• Riddle of the Sphinx II: The Omega Stone