I had to admit that I first reacted to the original announcements of an online version of Myst with more than a little skepticism. After all, the core of the Myst experience has always been the puzzles, with story a secondary factor. How do you turn a puzzle-oriented game into a viable on-line world, without also sacrificing everything that the game originally stood for?

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Myst creators at Cyan Worlds answer this question quite nicely with the oddly named Uru: Ages Beyond Myst -- Uru offers both a strong single-player experience along with the possibility for interaction and additional content on-line. Those who want to buy Uru and play it as if it were Myst IV will be able to do so. Uru's single-player experience will pick up some time after Myst III and provide a definite beginning and ending, just like most standard adventures do. (For the curious, the story will center on Yeesha, the daughter of the other Mysts' "star" Atrus.) Expect roughly 10 ages and 30 puzzles out of this portion of the game -- a little over twice the size of Myst III in terms of raw numbers.

Uru will also be making the move to 3D, and the graphics were very clear and smooth on the systems that Ubi Soft were using to demo the game at E3. Players will be able to create their own avatars (or on-screen characters), and the default perspective will now be third-person -- although a Myst-like first-person perspective should be provided as an option. Further customization will also be possible in each player's "personal age," which can be expanded with special pages that players find in their explorations. In one example, the developers showed how finding one of these pages rewarded the player with the opportunity to add a waterfall to their island.

The game will also include an online component, known as Uru Live. Out of the box, players can use Uru as a free chat room, share their pictures and texts with other players, and carry on basic conversations. The developers also plan to add new online-only ages to the Myst universe, for a still-undetermined monthly fee. In some ways, these online ages will be quite similar to the single-player experience -- with a story to be experienced and puzzles to be solved, including some puzzles that will require cooperation between multiple players -- but they will also add some less puzzle-like "mini games." Other ages will serve as "neighborhoods" where you can meet other players, either to explore and solve the main game worlds or simply to show off your accomplishments. Players can also join private neighborhoods, limited to invited friends and family.

Many years ago, Myst was known as a technologically advanced game, as it was one of the first titles that ran exclusively on CD-ROM. For the past few years, it's been less innovative, but the new online component stands a good chance of fixing this. Cooperative online play is nothing new, but no game has made it such an important core part of its plan. The graphics also bring the Myst series back into the technological race.

The one danger with a game like this is that the developers must create enough original content month after month to keep people paying a subscription fee. The first major attempt at an online adventure, Majestic, was cancelled after a few months, but likely because its content simply wasn't any good.

There definitely is an audience for cooperative adventure play -- two of the UHS's authors have created their own cooperative adventures via phone -- but the question remains as to whether the audience is large enough to ensure Uru Live's long-term success. Cyan may want to make sure there's at least some single-player component each month for those who still prefer even a bit of solitary adventure play, especially since most people will likely be drawn into the game initially for its single-player component.

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