Early versions of Windows (up to 3.x) were not complete, standalone operating systems; instead, they were desktop environments running on top of MS-DOS. So, this page is for Windows games released up to 1994.
Since the series of tubes was more like a single pipe in the 90s, basement dwellers had to resort to single-player-MMOs. Create a fully customizable party and delve deeper and deeper into the dungeon. Takes hundreds of hours to "complete". While it does work with any 32bit Windows, the real experience lies in playing it on a 3.1/3.11 machine running in DOSBox (or appropriate hardware).
You come across a book that serves as a portal to a deserted island, and as its puzzling structures lead to even more mysterious lands, you learn about a race who could turn writing into reality. A surreal, ground-breaking first-person adventure, often called the "killer app" for the CD-ROM drive, and the first title in a long series.
Note that the game was remade multiple times, so you can find: 1994's Myst, 2000's Myst: Masterpiece Edition (updated graphics), 2000's realMyst: Interactive 3D Edition (remade on the Plasma engine), 2014's realMyst: Masterpiece Edition (remade on the Unity engine), and 2020's confusingly named Myst (remade on the Unreal Engine, with VR support). Some of those are not even available for sale digitally anymore.
The Inner Demon and its viruses have invaded the player's computer and infected its icons. Then the Inner Demon set up a lair in a black hole which changes position. Guarding this lair are 4 dragons each holding one of the Inner Demon's powers. Using a little spaceship, the player goes into the computer's "Inner Space" to collect the uninfected icons and stop the Inner Demon, while simultaneously improving his ship and maintaining relationships with the population of Inner Space.
