Having played every Myst game since the first one, Obduction was all the evidence I needed to know that Cyan needed to move on from the world of D'ni for awhile. There is an originality and an energy to this title that I haven't seen from Cyan since Myst and Riven. I've played several hours so far and I've progressed through several puzzles. Would I say it's easier? So far, yes. That being said, though, there's nothing obtuse like needing to know to click on a picture on a wall ala Myst Library. The puzzles are beautifully integrated and subtly hinted at. The game is huge. The initial area is larger by far than Myst Island. I'd go as far as to say that the initial area is the size of all of Myst's Age's put together. Maybe save one or two. Everything is breathtaking. The manner in which the normal borders with the alien is beautiful to look at. I must have spent at least three minutes just gawking -- and that was at only one of the borders. The human interactions are in FMV like the original Myst was. This was a huge relief as Cyan's previous (rare) usage of game rendered humans was bad enough to kill the immersion. The acting is just as good as expected and certainly not bad by any stretch. I'm running out of space, so I'll wrap this up. The graphics are superb, but you'll need a high end machine to run on epic settings. I have an AMD processor and this game is obviously optimised to run on Intel CPUs. This game is a true successor to the Myst franchise. As a fan of all the Myst games, I had wanted the company to go back to its roots and somehow release something fresh and new. It's so obvious, but a game not directly tied into Atrus and D'ni didn't occur to me. Having played the end result, however, I can say without a doubt that it was what needed to happen. If you like adventure games, buy this. If you like an evolving mystery, buy this. If you liked the original Myst and none of the others, buy this. If you want to escape from life for awhile, buy this.
