‘Myst’ developer heads to Kickstarter with ‘Obduction’

By Adam Rosenberg October 17, 2013

myst developer heads to kickstarter with obduction — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Cyan, Inc., the studio behind Myst and Riven, just came clean with its next in-progress project, and hey, look at that: it’s on Kickstarter. Obduction is billed as a “real-time, first-person adventure that harkens back to the spirit of Cyan’s earlier games.” The game won’t be set within the Myst universe, but it will be built on the same philosophy of exploration and discovery. Cyan has big hopes for this one, with a funding goal of $1.1 million and a target release of “mid-to-late 2015” on Windows and Mac OS.

The story sees players whisked off from their home by an artifact of unknown origin that falls from the sky. The alien landscape that you end up in maintains familiar elements, such as a white house bordered by a picket fence. As you discover more of the world and solve the puzzles it sets before you – again, we see ties here to Myst – the hidden facts of the story reveal themselves.

With 29 days to go at the time of this writing, Obduction is at 1,210 backers and just shy of $67,000 raised. That’s a long way off from the million-plus being sought, but it’s also early in the campaign. That said, this is definitely one of the bigger video game projects that we’ve seen come to Kickstarter. The finished product is a long way off, and the funding goal is considerably higher than most. We definitely want to see a new game from Cyan, but there are no guarantees for this one. Best of luck to the team there on making Obduction a reality.

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Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

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