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I loved Myst and especially Riven and was hoping that after a few let downs (I found the technical jumping and pushing and shoving parts in Uru a bit frustrating), they might come up with a game that's actually fun to play again. But no - instead of actual puzzles that challenge your intelligence, the only challenge seems to be how patient you are. You mostly waste your time linking back and forth from one location to another (i.e. mostly staring on a black page waiting for the game to load) or running the same path on some rocky island for the 100th time, in order to get to the linking book so you can stare at another blank screen loading again. This possibly is the most frustrating game I know... I could handle some waiting and lots of trial and error if at least the visuals were rewarding, but as far as graphics are concerned, there's not much improvement, except that your avatar is able to swim now. Besides that, the visuals are derivative and extremely similar to earlier Myst games. Seems like the creators really ran out of ideas this time...

Path of the Shell is a multi-faceted expansion pack - It packs in a total of six new areas, although three of these areas are of any decent size, the other three are small, and two of those are familiar with MYST fans already. I won't get into too much detail about some of the areas, to prevent spoiling those of you interested in this pack.

Let's start with Ahnonay. Ahnonay was quite the interesting age - a bit of it had been shown via screenshots prior to the release, but the rest of it was indeed a surprise.

Ahnonay is lovely, although it is most certainly the most challenging and possibly annoying of all the new areas in the pack. ALOT of linking back and forth to Relto, and another area is required to solve it, and although the idea behind this world is unique and interesting, it seems like overkill after you've visited it a few times.

Beginners with Ahnonay will likely be as confused as I was - "What do I do here?" - With the age covered in water, a tower offshore, islands in the distance, and a strong current that seems bent on keeping you from reaching any of those destinations, you may initially feel perplexed as to how you are to do anything.

While Ahnonay is unique, it is also very complex and interesting, and will twist your brain into a pretzel while you try to figure out what is going on.

My advice is to pop in, check out the local wildlife - play with them a bit, then link back to Relto, and come back into Ahnonay via the way you came in the first time - You will notice a big difference - Try this again a few times - when you come back to the world as you first knew it, things might make a bit more sense.

However, I found this age nearly impossible to figure out without consulting hint guides and eventually a walkthrough.
The method of solving this age is so complex, I doubt that I'd have ever figured it out without having a guide to help me.

Let's move on to Er'cana.
Er'cana is reminiscent of your first experience of URU - You arrive in a dusty location, and have to do a bit of walking to get things started.

Er'cana is much easier to figure out than Ahnonay is - well, at first. :)

Er'cana is also the most beautiful age included in PoTS, in my opinion - Be sure to check out the view from the top!

Now, about the other areas - the smaller ones - The first of those is the Watcher's Sanctuary.

You begin your journey in PoTS here, where you will find books linking to the Ahnonay Cathedral (which harkens back to Kadish's gallery in it's decor), which will lead you to Ahnonay, Another book which leads to Er'cana, and a journal left by a DRC member, outlining some facts about the Watcher, and the areas you are about to visit.

Upstairs, there is another room - containing some interesting stuff - but save that room untill you have explored Er'cana and Ahnonay.

Point blank - Path of the Shell is an interesting addition to the small canon that URU has, however, the chief complaints that may players and fans have is the waiting times in the game. With nearly an hour of waiting involved in solving some of the puzzles - This pack was sort of a let-down for myself.

I reccomend checking out this pack. It's slated to be the last one, unless sales show a big enough interest in the developement of further xpacks - so it's worth having, and playing.

Final thoughts:

This pack might have been worth the 20 bucks I paid for it - but for some issues with some of the puzzles, and the complexity of others. Cyan has made some beautiful ages in this pack!

My vote: 6 out of 10.

------ Puzzles and Gameplay ------
They blend in with their surroundings; they stare you in the face, and yet remain invisible. They are VERY DIFFICULT. Some are downright unconventional, things you would never expect to have to do in a game, but if thrown a similar situation in real life - make sense. This game deals with time in more realistic ways than other games; things do not happen instantaneously in real life. I might add that it also deals with time in very fantastical ways, so you never quite know what to expect. Unless you're a really good problem solver, Path of the Shell should take you several days at the least to complete, without using a walkthrough or a hint guide. Overall, these puzzles are a pleasant return to the way things were in previous Myst games... really deviously designed, i.e. the concept was brilliant, and they make logical sense if you truly sit down and think about them.

Pro: There are few places where you will have to worry about falling off a ledge, which got very frustrating in the original Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. It's more mental this time through.

Con: Some of the puzzles require a lot of linking back and forth, some take a lot of time, and others are really, REALLY subtle. It could be your twentieth time visiting an Age before you realize: "Oh, hey, that actually does something."

------ Books ------
Reading is actually a feature of this game that I enjoy. Not many games out there require you to use so many different parts of your brain. Not only does it provide a lot of depth to the universe of Uru, with background information, but it also serves as a completely undetectable method of providing solutions to puzzles. The writings just add a lot of realism to the Myst games. Another nice addition to Path of the Shell is the editable player journal, which allows you to make notes or write about anything you wish. It's very useful, when you don't have the real thing next to your computer. But I'm pretty sure you're still going to want paper and pencil while playing this game.

Pro: So much background information in all these books, it could be compiled into a serious hardback copy. Having the texts available to you is better than not having them at all.

Con: So much background information in all these books, it could be compiled into a serious hardback copy. You'll also thank and curse yourself for ever learning how to count numbers.

------ Graphics ------
One of the other nice things about Uru, is that you are able to adjust the display settings so that it runs smoothly on your system. In fact, it does this automatically for you. Now, if you happen to have a very high-end system, you'll be able to turn up all the slider bars to Ultra High Quality modes, and believe me - everything looks gorgeous. Especially the water. I've also run the game with the lowest graphics settings possible, and there's still so much attention to detail in the modeling, that it still looks nice. They even took the time to animate water droplets landing on a glass window.

Pro: They were pretty insane graphics for an online MMORPG (Uru Live, recently terminated), and now you get everything back without the lag!

Con: Set the quality too high for your system, and your game might crash.

------ Sound and Music ------
Even with just stereo headphones, things will pan from side to side as you move around. The natural ambience of the environments, and the sounds of various mechanisms breathe life into the worlds of Uru. You will hear the difference between walking through a pool of water, and jumping in it. Really immersive, no matter what sound system you have. The music is also very diverse from world to world, and very carefully placed. There is a beautiful singing voice in one of the songs, which you will not want to miss. =)

Pro: So much sound design, it's almost ridiculous.

Con: Sometimes it's really noisy.

------ Overall Impressions ------
This expansion pack is extremely worth the $20 you pay for it. Technically, it's 2 expansion packs: To D'ni and Path of the Shell. Not only will it provide you with hours and hours of brain-straining puzzles, the puzzles will provide you with a great sense of accomplishment once you figure them out. One of the worlds seems like an homage to Riven, visually, as it shares some of the same combinations of metal, water, and dry land. If you've only played Myst, this game will still have its nostalgic moments. Trust me. The Path of the Shell makes up for the flaws in the original Uru, although, we'll still have to live with the challenges of navigating in real-time 3D... and it almost makes up for the cancellation of Uru Live, too.