Disappointment hit me hard in October. I found out then that a game I was expecting to be delivered in 2015 wouldn’t be delivered until 2016. That game is called Obduction. That game is produced by Cyan and is the “spiritual successor” to Myst. Riven, the sequel to Myst, was one of my all-time favorite games in high school. I enjoyed Myst too, but the Riven graphics were definitely worlds ahead of Myst, and ages ahead of their time. And the story? So engaging.
Rand Miller, who founded Cyan, posted on their Kickstarter website on October 20th to explain the reason for the delay:
About six months ago we realized that Obduction had evolved with enough content to be a bit larger than the Kickstarter-sized experience we had planned. With that in mind we decided to see if we could raise some small additional funding to move Obduction to that larger vision – instead of moving the scope back down.
We had serious interest from several sources including a small publisher. After several meetings and reviews the small publisher said yes, and we proceeded to negotiate a formal contract that was ready to sign two months ago. They assured us that this was a done deal, and so, with their very specific recommendation we moved forward with the larger Obduction production — leaving the option to reduce behind us.
Unfortunately, the publisher “reneged for what were apparently financial reasons” after tying things up for months. However, that is now all in the past. Let’s move forward to the future. At this point, only a couple months in the future! Obduction, after such a long wait (I backed this project in April of 2014, two years ago), will finally be released in June! Back in March, Cyan released a teaser trailer, which, let’s face it, made me even more excited to play the finished product.
From the creators of Myst… What if you were taken… to another place… with pieces of home… and other places. Do you think… you could get home? Think, again. Coming June 2016.
Such an intriguing concept. And definitely right up Cyan’s alley. They are experts at creating bizarre and interesting worlds. When you start every game in the Myst series, you drop within a story already-in-progress and you need to find your way out, hopefully helping Atrus with his various issues with his sons or his father along the way. This concept takes that idea one step further (minus Atrus, because this isn’t Myst): from finding your way out to finding your way home.
Besides the graphics, the music and the story, the thing that made the Myst series so great was the puzzle-solving. You couldn’t move forward and find your way out unless you could figure out the puzzle at hand. Some of the puzzles were hard, but they all had a purpose, a reason, a way of tying it all together. From the looks of the trailer, it appears that Obduction is going to be the same and then some… All the same ingredients that made Myst awesome.
The Myst series made me think. The Obduction game is going to make me “think, again”.
Are you excited to play Obduction when it’s released? Share in the comments!
