Stranger (Myst)

The Myst series of adventure computer games deal with the events following the player's discovery of a mysterious book describing an island known as Myst. The book is no ordinary volume; it is a linking book, which serves as a portal to the world it describes. The player is transported to Myst Island, and must unravel the world's puzzles in order to return home. Myst was a commercial and critical success upon release, and spawned four sequels—Riven, Exile, Revelation and End of Ages— as well as several spinoffs and adaptations.

While the player, referred to as a Stranger, remains faceless and unnamed, Myst and its sequels introduce a variety of non-player characters. The inhabitants of Myst include the explorer Atrus, a writer of many linking books, and his wife Catherine and their children. Other characters introduced in the series include Gehn, Atrus' power-hungry father; Saavedro, a traumatized victim of Atrus' sons; and Esher, a member of an old civilization whose motives for helping the player are ambiguous.

The first Myst titles used pre-rendered graphics, and digitally inserted footage of live actors into the backgrounds. For Myst V: End of Ages, a different approach was taken; a special camera recorded actor's faces and mapped the video onto digital models. The characters of Myst have been generally praised in each installment. Reviewers found that the live action characters increased immersion, while the digital body language and spoken conviction in End of Ages endeared the characters to the player. Dissenting reviewers considered Myst's acting overly melodramatic and overwrought.

When the first game in the franchise, Myst, was created, all the characters were created from footage of live actors. The actors were filmed on a bluescreen, then added to the pre-rendered backgrounds via chroma key. Due to a limited amount of time and money, Myst's creators, Rand and Robyn Miller, took on roles in the game themselves;

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