9. Myst
Myst is one of those games that sometimes gets a bad reputation, probably because of the insane amount of games it inspired. Though it hasn't aged very well and has been long overtaken by other games in the genre, it deserves a mention for the sheer influence it has had over the years. A quick trip to any website offering Flash Games is the only evidence you need to see Myst type room escape games by the dozen. At one time, Myst was the best selling PC game ever and thus has received numerous remakes over the years. It was a surprisingly successful game in its day despite being a very niche genre that wasn't for everyone. While other point and click games featured dialogue and obvious story to push the game forward, Myst had nothing of the sort. You found yourself on a strange island and basically had to click your way around finding and solving problems until you started to feel some sort of progress. Understandably, this very vague approach to what you had to do meant that while a lot of people played Myst, very few stuck with it long enough to find out what happens. Most obviously the environments looked great as you explored the MYSTerious island figuring out exactly what was going on. The lack of dialogue coupled with the lack of inventory and instructions meant for a very immersive experience. Your screen wasn't burdened with options and menus, instead letting the whole island take up your view. It was just you and your mouse icon tackling mazes, puzzles and problems in an attempt to unravel the MYSTery. A notoriously difficult game to figure out, most gave up in frustration before getting very far and to be honest, the ending itself was a letdown when you finally got there. Nevertheless Myst has had its fair share of sequels over the years, with this original version seeing numerous remakes including its latest for the 3DS. Admittedly, it hasn't held up too well and new audiences who haven't played it before would no doubt wonder how we ever put up with it, perhaps an indication just how far the genre has come since 1993. To be fair though, Myst at the time was an original, immersive, somewhat groundbreaking adventure that brought the genre to a much wider audience.