The game crashes constantly. Sometimes it gives an error message, sometimes it just hangs, sometimes it hard-crashes the entire computer. As it is now, it is not playable.
If you're like me, a RPG addict and AD&D lover for over 30 years, then only reading about this game made your mouth water. So I really wanted to like this game, and it hurts to have to give it such a bad review. But the truth is: in it's current state, it's a mess for several reason. The main reason for me: there is almost no documentation on how the game mechanics or the Pathfinder ruleset work. The game simply doesn't tell you a thing and you have to find out everything yourself. So unless you're already familiar with the Pathfinder ruleset, your party is not going to get far in this game. The game does recognize if you make a mistake, e.g. use a spell the wrong way, and it even notifies you with a comment. Only the comment is not helpful at all, especially my favourite "Learn how to use it first!". Very funny, developers. Learn how to write documentation first. Another problem is that the fighting is horribly unbalanced, which makes it feel like it has been rushed out before it was finished. Of course it´s not uncommon in RPGs to have opponents who are too strong for your current level so you'll have to come back later, but they way this game constantly mixes easy with impossible fights simply feels wrong (and if I say impossible, I don't mean difficult.. I mean insta-death for the entire party in a couple rounds). So this game could have been a gem.. but it turned out as an unfinished, frustrating waste of money. Sorry developers.
I really liked the Gothic series and open-world RPGs in general, so I thought I give this game a try. I´ve played it for many hours now and it's time for a review, but mainly in order to warn others not to waste their mony. First impression was: this game is hard. I died as soon as I stepped outside the door, literally. So I thought, ok, this is an open world game, you need to learn yourself where you can go and where you can't. So I learnt that I could not go anywhere at all. Then I thought, I just need to get more levels and some decent equipment and it'll get better. So I somehow made my way through, dying all the time, running for my life from everything, until I joined a faction and got some decent armor and weapons. But still, I died as soon as I stepped out the door. So I finally turned all the difficulties down (the game has even several options for this), and tried with the easiest setting possible. Guess what.. I die as soon as I step out the door. After many hours I have come to the conclusion that it has nothing to do with levels or equipment, but this game is simply awfully balanced. Add a few bugs including quest stoppers (a person needed to complete a quest simply disappeared by falling into the ground right in front of me, maybe some clipping problem), and what remains is just another Gothic clone gone wrong. Pity because it looked promising. It might have been great with more development time, but in this state, the game is not ready for release. Balancing, fighting system, mini-games and bugs still need some major work done. So I hate to say it, but don´t waste your time and money.
The idea behind the game is great and I liked it right from the start. It´s the right game for you if you like games where you can (and have to) try things out and learn. The game tells you what to do, but not exactly how to do it. Since each episode consists of only one or two screens, there aren't that many possibilities so I didn't find the first two episodes too difficult, but then in the third there seems to be a bug. The instructions are rather clear in this one so there is not much room for a misunderstanding. I've tried several times, triple-checking everything until I came to the conclusion it must be a bug. Since you can't start the 4th episode until you have finished the 3rd, only half of the game can be played at this time. I hope there will be a fix because I'd like to see the rest of this unusual game.
I´ve installed Real Myst on a system with Windows 7 64bit with 4 GB RAM, an Intel Core 2 Duo and a GeForce GTX 660 (newest drivers). That´s not the most impressive gaming rig nowadays but it should be more than enough to run this game. Imagine my surprise when it ran so extremely slow and sluggish that it is impossible to play. I've tried all different settings (there aren't many to choose from anyway), but to no avail. Then I thought, maybe it doesn't like Windows 7 and installed it on Windows Vista. Same result. So bottom line is, I can't play it. After some more testing around I came to believe that my computer is not too slow, but too fast.. maybe this game was made with computers in mind that don't exist anymore. I don't know for sure what's the problem, but one way or the other it was a waste of time and money.
but didn't use it. If you like to fight enemies that can only be killed by headshots (neither a double-barreled shotgun blast at point blank range nor a full magazine from an assault rifle to the chest will do it), can see you through thick foliage as well as darkness, can hear silenced weapons and re-spawn endlessly behind your back, then this game is for you. If you like it even mildly realistic, give this game a wide berth. Don't get me wrong, the game has its points; it lets you explore the world freely, has an interesting setting, and lots of weaponry to try out. But in the end, you will spend (or should I say, waste) most of your time driving around and eliminating the same guard posts over and over again, which quickly becomes boring. The game also has a bunch of logical errors. Some of them could be overlooked, like the question how diamonds are "transferred" to an "account". Others like the fact that everyone is shooting at you, even the people you work for, kind of ruin the game - as soon as something moves, it's an enemy. That is a rather poor design for an "open world" game and turns it into no more than a simple shooting gallery. Too bad since this game could have been much more. At the GOG price and DRM-free, it may be worth a try, but I'm very glad now that I did not spend the money for the retail version back when it came out.
After being forced to "explore" the same part of the island for the third time in a row now because my character died each time before I could reach one of the rare saving points, I feel compelled to write a review to warn others of this game. While the idea behind the game is fresh and I really appreciate the attempt to include an (at least somewhat) realistic way of navigation in a game, it is unfortunately wasted by just too many flaws in the design. I'll give you a brief (yet very uncomplete) list: - The controls are so bad that most of the time, your character will stumble, slide and fall more than he will walk. At the beginning that doesn't seem to be much of a problem, but it becomes really annyoing after a few hours. - The character has a fever so that he constantly needs to take medication which he can produce from plants. Now what would any reasonable person in that situation do? Well, they would create a fair amount of medication in one batch and carry it with them. Unfortunately, that would remove the fever as a serious threat from the game, so the game designers made this impossible by simply giving the character no pockets - you can only carry one pill of each type in your journal book (where the poor guy stuffs the journal book, I don't even want to know). - Since you have no pockets, you can only carry 3 plants at a time. Because the laboratories to create medicine are few and far between, this lack of carrying ability would quickly lead to the characters death due to lack of medication, and would make the game very hard if not unplayable. To solve this problem, the game features a storage tray for plants in each lab - and you can access the tray from any lab, meaning what you put on the tray in one lab will also pop up in all the other labs on the island. How this magic is accomplished, the game doesn't tell, but it feels kind of stale that the game needs one unrealistic feature (no pockets) to keep the fever a threat, and then another even more unrealistic feature (the magical storage tray) to still make it playable. - Worst of all: there is no save function! You can only save the game at pre-defined saving points, which are beds and lanterns/candle. Come on, what is this, a Playstation game? Unfortunately the saving points are rare and death can come quickly in this game, so you will end up "exploring" the same areas you've already explored, "researching" the same plants you've already researched, and "discovering" the same notes you've already found. Then you add frequent problems with the controls where the character simply doesn't turn his head anymore (making it impossible to move around, forcing you to restart), and I have to consider the game unplayable in its current form. Which is really sad because I like the idea and the setting a lot. This game could have been a gem. So I´m going to wait and hope for an update.. but I'm afraid game issues like the lack of carrying ability are not something that is easy to fix with an update without creating new issues for the overall game balance, so I honestly don't expect one. Conclusion: Sorry to say it, but don't waste your time with this.
