As Myst celebrates its twentieth anniversary, creator Cyan announced last month that they are creating a new, first-person adventure that harkens back to the spirit of the classic adventure game. The Kickstarter campaign for Obduction has only three days left on the clock and with $1,043,571 received from 17,564 backers (at the time of writing), we’re keeping our fingers crossed for this amazing project.
I was introduced to Myst by a friend back when it was released in 1993 after he couldn’t figure out the solution to a puzzle, and immediately rushed out to buy my own copy of the game because I was so transfixed by it. I absolutely adored it – the exploration, the challenges, the loneliness – and I loved the way it felt as if it contained worlds that were there just for me to discover. It has since had a profound effect on my adventure gaming history, as I’m sure is the case for many other fans of the genre, and I backed the project before even watching the video.
According to the dictionary, obduction is ‘the act of drawing or layering over, as a covering’. According to the Kickstarter page: “Obduction begins with… well… an abduction – your abduction. On a crystal clear, moonlit night, a curious, organic artefact drops from the sky and inexplicably whisks you away across the universes to who-knows-where (or when, or why).” Exploring unfamiliar surroundings and reading between the lines will enable you to begin to answer your questions – such as why is there an old, abandoned farmhouse in the middle of an alien landscape – and Cyan have said that from this point on ‘the story becomes your story’.
Obduction will take what the developer has learnt about creating deeply immersive worlds and apply it to a new title with a compelling storyline and exceptional challenges. It may have a few design elements in common with both Myst and its sequel Riven, but it also delves into new areas as well. Take a look at the updates on the Kickstarter page if you’re interested in finding out more about gameplay and content, as I must confess that my motives for not including more information here are purely selfish ones. The thing I remember most about Cyan’s classic adventure back in 1993 was that ‘what am I getting myself into’ feeling; I want to know as little as possible about Obduction before playing it so I can discover this new world for myself all over again.
The campaign has raised ninety-five percent of its $1,100,100 target so far but the developer has only revealed one official stretch goal: Oculus Rift support and localisation. Cyan say that the reason behind this is because the game is being designed with a flexible scope: “We’ll be excited to reach our target goal and make an amazing experience. But we’re also anticipating what it means to move beyond that goal. Kickstarter funding over the base level would be used to make Obduction bigger and better – adding such stretch goals as new places to explore, additional platforms, localisation, technological bells and whistles, and more.”
What are we getting ourselves into?
So why have they decided to start making a new adventure title twenty years after the acclaimed Myst? According to the information on the Kickstarter campaign: “We love the wonder of having an entirely new world at our fingertips. We love the twisted unravelling of an unexpected storyline. We love the satisfying ‘Aha’ moment of solving a particularly perplexing puzzle. We love the rush of revelation when we find out what’s around the next corner. We love the twinge of emotion entering a dimly lit room because we feel like this place has become our world. And we hear from more and more people who love all of those things, too.”
If that isn’t enough to get you excited, I don’t know what is. Because of how busy we’ve been lately with our series on the brony fandom, I’ve still not had the opportunity to watch the promotional video; and in some ways I don’t want to because of the reason I’ve mentioned above. But am I thrilled to be a backer? More than you can imagine.
I haven’t yet watched the promotional video, but I can’t wait to get lost in this world.
Head to the Kickstarter page if you’d like to become a backer yourself or, to find out more about the title, take a look at the concept over in Cyan’s workshop at Steam. Obduction is due for release in mid-to-late 2015 initially on PC and Mac, and I for one can’t wait to see the beautiful worlds the developer takes us this time.
