Obduction New Game from the Creators of Myst
So I recently discussed the brilliance of new games in the form and function of Myst, with the latest game entitled The Witness, right? Well, what’s better than a game in the form and function of Myst, than a game in the form and function of Myst, by the creators of Myst? Here is the latest teaser for the new game from Cyan.
The thing that Myst did better than The Witness is compelling storytelling. Really compelling storytelling. And it looks like Obduction is following in this tradition. I mean, really? Look at these landscapes! There has GOT to be interesting reasons, and stories for this insanity.
But let’s go backwards a bit. There are a many of you who have never played any of the Myst games. Which is a shame… Because they are ranked up there in some of the best games I’ve ever played. A good way to jump in right now, is to buy the iPad or iPhone version of Myst called, Real Myst. The original was just a bunch of photos, that you clicked through, and occasionally you had video to interact with. But they weren’t very dynamic. Not what you would expect today anyway. When my son first saw the original Myst, he was like, it’s not a game! It’s a photo book! Hahah. So get Real Myst, and you will be able to freely roam the world and interact with everything in a fully 3D immersive world.
Play Myst – whatever version you prefer, and then get Riven. Riven is Myst on steroids. The puzzles are more complicated because they don’t all get solved locally. You have to traverse various islands to unlock new areas on the island you are currently in. Which adds to the interest and complexity. After playing all the way through The Witness, which is a take off of Myst and a harkening back to the “better years” of game development. Jonathon Blow’s goal was to create a complicated game that you learn from your environment. And it’s enjoyable. But there was zero story until the very end. I found it very enjoyable to feel clever and to just innately learn from the puzzles themselves. To master one, learn a new one, and then see these two different techniques blended together. And it yet, it was very daunting as well. Too daunting. The sheer quantity of puzzles was too much.
Blow needed to drag the user through the game with snippets of story, and interest by communicating the larger picture of what was going on. Blow knows how to do this. He did it in Braid years ago. It was a dashed love story, you said stupid things to your princess… And you desperately need to solve the problem! It was Mario for a modern age… With a divorce and counseling therapy. It was witty and clever. And yet, in the Witness, Blow refused to do just that. And so the puzzles became tedious and a chore. When they should have been a joy.
And then we get Obduction. One of the revolutionary things that Myst did was to tell a story about a man who could create glorious worlds just by writing. But then, in one of his worlds, everything went pear-shaped. Something went wrong and the Father of the worlds went missing. So you have to go, and find him. To struggle past the two brothers and figure out what went wrong. To release the father and lock up the brother that banished him in the first place. It was a compelling story. It had everything you needed to drag you through the extremely tricky puzzles. And that is what it looks like we are getting again with Obduction. More rich storytelling. More rich worlds of strangeness and weirdness to unravel. And that is why Obduction, which comes out in June – which is also when my birthday is, hint hint – will be a screaming success. The Witness did well. Very well. The first week of sales were something around 100,000 units, $5 million. And seeing as though it was all funded (well mainly all funded) by Blow, he did well. But he didn’t change the game like Myst did.
That is what I’m suggesting that Obdjuction will do. It will change the game. It will refocus the development community on well designed puzzlers. It will bring a new wave of retro game design. I predict.
And that is what I am suggesting will happen in June… It all starts in June. BIRTHDAY, in JUNE! Hahaha.
But maybe Obduction isn’t your thing? Then maybe you’d be interested in eb.casino would be of interest to you? Personally not my thing specifically, but I’m betting (see what I did there?) that it might be for some of you. Regardless, Obduction was a great game and I really enjoyed it.