Myst/Myst Masterpiece is basically shifting between static images.

Myst Masterpiece is basically a "light" (in terms of what people expect these days) remastering of the original Myst - the images were bumped up in color-depth, the music and sounds were digitally remastered and (I believe) some of the animations for actions/etc. were re-done. I think it also added a built-in hint system, though I never played the non-Masterpiece release so it may have always been there.

realMyst is just the game rendered in 3D, where you can roam around Myst Island and the Ages freely as opposed to "click spot, wait for image to load of next area"/so on. It added a bonus Age which ties into Riven's plot a little more and it also had real-time effects like day/night cycles and a weather system implemented into it.

realMyst: Masterpiece Edition is essentially the above, except done in the Unity engine to make it more cooperative with modern setups. If you have no intention on spending time troubleshooting then it is possibly the safest bet to purchase, provided your PC is up to its specs (they aren't that demanding, but with any Unity game performance will likely vary no matter what).

I'm running Win10 and so far haven't had any trouble with Myst Masterpiece, though I know every PC seems to be a different case with that game. I personally don't have a problem with the "slideshow" aspect of older adventure games, and this method of gameplay allows them to pre-render each screen just like they want it, so in a way it adds to the atmosphere. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not one of those purist types that say that the new versions weren't needed or whatever, just wanted to give the original (well, remaster of original or whatever) a fair shake.

Masterpeice if you want an experience more like the original game, get the realmyst versions if you want everything updated, etc. Basically comes down to personal preference.

Thanks for the info. I got the 2 older ones.

Apart from one being the original and the other like a FPS there were other subtle differences.

RealMyst needed to be set for winxp compatibility mode otherwise but ran fine after that. The channelwood ages view felt zoomed in and the audio wasn't done very well there, the end character animation was a higher res and a few other things. Those effects looked nice in certain maps.

Absolutely.

I have vague recollection of one of the Miller brothers speaking negatively against realMyst not being true to the way he'd expected Myst to be experienced but there is something about seeing Myst Island and the Ages rendered in 3D that adds to the sense of adventure when you're able to explore areas you otherwise wouldn't when it was just a series of images where the focal points were fixed on where the developers want you to be. Seeing it all come alive (in a sense, at least) does help enhance the atmosphere quite a bit.

I agree - I'll be writing a review for realMyst tomorrow - besides the day/night cycle and weather system, I especially liked the wildlife in certain Ages.

[minor spoiler] First time I saw Rime, I gazed around in wonder at the beautiful scenery - and when I suddenly noticed the whale as it visibly and noisily exhaled at the water surface, my jaw dropped.

i seem to be the only person on the planet, but in my opinion realmyst was a terrible experience of Myst.

Different feelings here mate! :p

Well, in my perosnal opinion, Myst: Masterpiece Edition is the ultimate edition of Myst on how it was envisioned back in 1993 (or earlier, since that's when it was released), however, technological limitations made it impossible to include the images in 24 bit depth and were compressed in order to ship them in CD (I got the CD edition, I've forgotten if they released it on other formats on launch). Fortunately, they didn't delete those images and videos as was the custom back then, and we managed to get the game as it should have been back then, albeit some years later.

Going a bit further into the future, comes RealMyst, an edition that while being kinda outdated on release, was rather welcome since it allowed free roam on the island of Myst and the other ages, something many wanted to do back in 1993 (at least I did). Unfortunately it was plagued with bugs and compatibility issues, and still is, since they planned for a more modern version, RealMyst: Masterpiece Edition.

This latest revision of the classic brough innumerable improvements thanks to the Unity Engine, and well, also its inherent problems, such as being very demanding due to its poor optimization. Still, thanks to it being on unity, everything was improved: resolution, particles, shaders/materials (textures), compatibility, etc.

For any new person into the saga, starting off with RealMyst: Masterpiece Edition is the safest path to take, people aren't used to point and click + slideshow games anymore (though this one included videos embedded into the pictures!), but they should play Myst: Masterpiece Edition afterwards if they want to get ready for Riven, while also reviving the classic. I'd recommend against playing RealMyst to start off, it's good to see how the game was first introduced to realtime 3D, but the many problems plaguing that edition make it a very bad choice to start.

However, I see a few issues with RealMyst: Masterpiece Edition, while I understand the devs wanted to preserve the feel of the original, they should've updated the building models and many of the textures and terrain, while also aiming for a more photorealistic feel for plants and wildlife. The game has moments where the buildings feel very out of place, and the plants feel too toonish. There are also quite a few issues with scaling on certain objects. Despite these complaints, I believe it's the best version atm, the day/night cycles are amazing, and most of the atmosphere is sublime. I'm looking forward to what Cyan might be preparing for us next, Obduction was great (safe for a certain age and certain chroma scenes...), and I'd deffinitely love to see Myst, Riven, Myst 5 and Uru in UE4 with the quality they achieved with obduction; I'd also love to see Myst III: Exile and Myst IV: Revelations in the UE4, but I'm not seeing Ubilol doing anything to make it happen, but who knows, maybe during this month's E3 they announce UE4 remakes + VR for those games!

...

Ok, I'll go to my corner now.