Highlights

• Myst's success was due to its memorable main island and well-designed puzzles, making it the best-selling PC game of all time at one point.
• Indie gaming has provided puzzle fans with plenty of options to scratch their problem-solving itch.
• Fans of Myst should check out games like The Talos Principle 2, Quern, Riven, Obduction, The Witness, RiME, Call of the Sea, and What Remains of Edith Finch.

Myst is an iconic graphic adventure game that was first released in 1993 on Mac OS before coming to Windows the following year. The game was a huge success, becoming the best-selling PC game of all time - a title that it held until The Sims was released and eventually exceeded its sales figures. Myst's success was largely down to its memorable main island, which looked incredible for the time, and its well-designed puzzles that were smartly integrated into the environments.

Myst has had a plethora of remasters and re-releases over the years, with each one bringing with it a wave of new players. Myst fans who are itching for some more tricky puzzle challenges should consider checking out these other excellent puzzle games.

Updated on December 7th, 2023, by Jack Pursey: It has now been over 30 years since the classic adventure game Myst first hit stores. Although puzzle-oriented games no longer fill the tops of sales charts like they used to in the 90s, indie gaming revived the genre in the 2010s, and it continues to do well on the indie scene today. For players who are looking for some excellent games like Myst to play, this list has been updated to add a new entry and include subheadings that summarise each game and its similarities to Myst at a glance. *A video version of this article was also added, showcasing all eight games from the list.

1 Riven

The Sequel to Myst

Riven is an obvious choice for this list, as it is the sequel to Myst and was made by the same development team. Riven was released four years after Myst in 1997 and threw players onto a new set of islands for them to explore and gave them a plethora of new puzzles to solve.

Retrospectively, many people consider Riven to be just as good, if not better, than Myst - though this was far from the case at the time. Riven was heavily criticized in 1997, as it featured a very similar brand of point-and-click gameplay to Myst, which many people felt had become outdated. However, for those happy to embark on another retro adventure akin to Myst, Riven is a standout choice.

2 Quern – Undying Thoughts

A Modern Puzzle-Oriented Game Heavily Inspired by Myst's Puzzle Design

Aside from Riven, Quern - Undying Thoughts offers the closest experience to Myst on this list. The game's similarities are immediately apparent from its visuals, soundtrack, and sound effects, while the style of puzzles also shares many similarities with Myst and the aforementioned Riven.

Quern – Undying Thoughts can get tedious at times, with much of the runtime being spent working out where the puzzles are rather than how to solve them - though it's still an excellent puzzle game that most Myst fans will love.

3 Obduction

A 2016 Adventure Game From Myst's Development Team

Like Riven and Myst, Obduction was developed by Cyan Worlds (formerly known as Cyan). The game begins with the player being transported to an unknown location and tasks them with solving a range of tricky puzzles to find their way home.

Obduction struggled to reach the heights of Riven and Myst, but it was still relatively well-received, exemplified by its matching 76 critic score and 7.6 user score on Metacritic. Like Myst, a virtual reality version of Obduction is available, letting players get up close and personal with the environments and puzzles.

4 The Witness

Puts Players on a Beautifully Designed Island Packed with Line Puzzles and Secrets

The Witness had a ton of hype behind it leading up to the game's release, largely thanks to its designer and director, Jonathan Blow, who is best known for his work on the revolutionary indie game Braid. Thankfully, 2016's The Witness didn't disappoint.

The Witness echos Myst by putting players on a beautifully designed island that is filled to the brim with difficult line puzzles to solve. The inherent restriction of line puzzles may make the game seem one-dimensional at first; however, the game's puzzles soon show their worth, thanks to their tremendous variety and depth. Moreover, as players progress through the game, they will start to realize that there's more to the island than first meets the eye, and the true brilliance of The Witness unfolds.

5 Call of the Sea

A Puzzle-Adventure Game with a Mysterious Story and Eye-Catching Art Design

Call of the Sea takes players back to the 1930s and puts them in the shoes of Norah Everhart, who is traveling to a mysterious island to search for her missing husband. The game tasks players with solving a number of puzzles, which don't quite reach the heights of those in Myst but are still mostly fun and rewarding to solve nonetheless. The game's story does a great job of enhancing the experience and ends on a thought-provoking note.

6 RiME

A Third-Person Adventure with Myst-Like Environmental Puzzles

RiME is yet another game on this list that strands players on a mysterious island. The adventure puzzle game is split into several large levels and features a recurring spirit that acts as a guide. RiME differentiates itself from most of the other entries on this list with its third-person perspective, though its emphasis on environmental puzzles is reminiscent of Myst. RiME was well-received by critics, exemplified by its 82 Metascore on Xbox One.

7 The Talos Principle 2

A Philosophical Game with Wonderfully Well-Designed Puzzles

Like its critically acclaimed predecessor, The Talos Principle 2 strikes a wonderful balance between complex puzzles and even more complex philosophical questions that are sure to give players at least one existential crisis during its runtime.

Although The Talos Principle 2's core gameplay doesn't stray too far from the original, the sequel adds several interesting features to the mix, such as new puzzle mechanics and the freedom to explore stunning areas like New Jeruselum and interact with NPCs there.

8 What Remains of Edith Finch

A Story-Driven Experience That Is Difficult to Forget

What Remains of Edith Finch is a first-person exploration game that is often unofficially referred to as a "walking simulator," a style of game that - as the name suggests - generally tasks the players walking from area to area as a story unfolds around them.

However, this tag seriously undermines how creative and varied the gameplay in What Remains of Edith Finch is, as it throws all sorts of gameplay mechanics at the player over the course of the story. The game never gets too challenging, but the variation in its gameplay - along with the stellar story - ensures that it remains engaging from start to finish. What Remains of Edith Finch is a great choice for Myst fans who would like an adventure game that focuses more on story than puzzles.