Myst was the first really immersive game I remember playing and thinking "I feel like I'm actually a part of this world". I was a bit too young to really grasp how to play it but that didn't stop me clicking around just exploring because the game (for its time) was just so beautiful and engaging despite the graphical limitations at the time.
It's funny looking at it now, because in my head it was basically photo-realistic!
For the era it was such a mind-blowing game, and that's really saying something considering it's the same year that gave us NBA Jam, Virtua Fighter, Ridge Racer, Star Fox, X-Wing, Link's Awakening, Doom, and Mega Man X (what a year!).
Did you play it around the years that it first released, or in later years?
I didn't play it until the Windows release, but even then, it was vastly different from many games available at that time. The graphics were very obviously ahead of most games. While many games do so now (and some over do it), Myst provided a very cinematic experience. Most of all though was the immersion. Many games had addicting gameplay, but few tried to captivate the player in the same way Myst did. It is of course a point of preference, but it did a lot to draw in the player. Not all of the clues were known to be clues at the time. You could discover something and not know what it did until later on. Then it became a point of realization. You weren't playing the role of a super soldier or simulating someone else. You as the player were the one discovering pieces of this world and helping it unfold.
This was extremely captivating. Even to those of a young age who didn't entirely get it. It just provided a different experience from most games at the time. An experience that has been emulated through different means like flash games, but hasn't been recreated in a meaningful way.
Neither did I, to the degree I never played it. I thought of it as pseudo computer game for people that didn't know how much better it could be, even though I had a friend or two that played computer games that really liked Myst and it's sequel. It's pretty plain looking back that in my case it was just arrogance on my part, since I never even played them.
I just couldn't imagine then how it could compare to Space Quest, King's Quest, Alone in the Dark, etc. Now I can imagine a few ways in which they might have been able to leverage the format and limitations to expand the world and puzzles in different ways that weren't feasible for other games.
For those looking for a Myst nostalgia trip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtO4E3cIn0w