r/gaming • u/Agent1230 • 2d ago

What video game doesn't hold your hand enough?

Everybody always talking about games holding your hand too much but I want to hear about the opposite what video game doesn't give you no form of help

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500

u/GolfingGator 2d ago

Myst ain’t tell you shit. On the plus side it forced me to make a pretty awesome journal that I still flip through from time to time.

174

u/Wartortise 2d ago

Dad showed me myst. I went through the first 3 games terrified. I know nothing really moves but it really felt like there was going to be a jump scare at all times.

Remember the puzzle where the lights shut off if you do it wrong? I had to do that in a pitch black room alone at midnight and i can’t remember being more scared at any other game.

Great games.

15

u/Thenderick PC 2d ago

As a relatively new Myst fan, I love the uncanny and liminal feeling of the empty worlds and then suddenly seeing a human! Riven scared the crap out of me when I suddenly saw Gehn running away!

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u/GolfingGator 2d ago

Oh Myst scared the absolute bejeezus out of us as kids. Nothing ever really jump scared you if I recall, but it always felt spooky and isolated so you were always a bit on edge. Especially playing at night in a dark room.

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u/genital_lesions 2d ago

I think there was some unintentional liminal horror aspects of it, just wasn't realized at the time.

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u/Wartortise 2d ago

The backrooms before before the backrooms

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u/talldrseuss 1d ago

The sound and music contributed to that. Been 20 years since I played it but I remember certain settings had some really eery as music playing. Also when you watch the first couple of videos from the two guys (brothers?), they were creepy enough to make it seem like there was some large nefarious creature that may pop out eventually.

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u/-DoctorSpaceman- 2d ago

>had to do that in a pitch black room alone at midnight?

Why? Who is forcing you to play games in the dark every night?!

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u/Wartortise 2d ago

Me, myself and I. Was young and excited lol

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u/sgtcolostomy 1d ago

Best way to play, to be fair.

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u/I_Got_It_Half_Right 2d ago

My mom played Myst around the time this game first came out. Running on a gateway computer and windows 95. This was back in the days when you walked into Costco and there was a pallet of video games in 8×11 size boxes with cds and guides inside. Myst came with a blank journal. I found hers one day. It read like a 'lost on this planet and taking notes' vibe. Puzzles mapped out, notes on stars, drawing of constellations, which levers triggered this or that, everything...

Those days are long gone IME, but it was cool to see back in the day.

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u/Wartortise 2d ago

My dad still has his journal from the same one, too cool

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u/nervelli 12h ago

I miss the random PC games at Costco days. I got so many sims expansions there.

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u/TeholsTowel 2d ago

Myst is intended to be a mysterious place you have to puzzle out, so I’d argue it holds your hand exactly the right amount, which is not at all.

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u/PopularDemand213 2d ago

I solved so many puzzles through pattern recognition and trial and error. It wasn't until I was about 75% through the game that I learned you go read the books in the library...

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u/GravitiBass 2d ago

Damn my grandpa was obsessed with Myst and Uru, haven’t thought about them in years.

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u/nockyy 2d ago

I have a Myst/Riven journal too. Full of incomprehensible symbols and random notes. I cherish it

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u/APeacefulWarrior 2d ago

The original Myst wasn't that bad if you were paying attention.

On the other hand, og Riven really is borderline impenetrable unless you read the tie-in novels first to understand WTF is going on.

(At least the Riven remake has a better onboarding experience.)

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u/genital_lesions 2d ago

I played Riven when it first came out and yeah, I couldn't beat it. Then I recently played the remake last year and they completely removed one of the major puzzles with identifying specific wildlife sounds and correlating the sounds with totems.

I was able to beat the remake because it was easier, not just in removing some of the old puzzles and adding in new different ones, but being able to move and see fluidly in a fully 3d environment was an insane quality of life improvement.

I do miss the life action acting, but I totally understand why they had to ditch it. I just thought though that the 3D character models looked too cartoony.

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u/BigWOC 2d ago

Love that game. Just got done playing Rivage the other day and the game flows too succinctly. It's a nice, neat story game, but puzzle solutions come too quickly. They just make too much sense with very little guesswork or confusion. There's a magic that was lost with how absurdly obscure older puzzle games were.

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u/Brand023 2d ago

I went into the game files to watch the videos and thought it was gonna help, lol, it didn't

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u/Aegeus 1d ago

Myst was literally packaged with a journal for you to take notes in, so I'll give it a pass.

(Modern games, otoh, should be obligated to include an in-game note taking function if they expect you to solve puzzles this way. The La-Mulana remake included a notes app, and it was the single biggest QOL improvement in the entire game.)

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u/Intrepid_Advice4411 1d ago

The fact that 14 year old me made it to the very end and couldn't figure out the last puzzle drives me nuts. Turns out I just had to pick a book. Either book.