While not forsaking the many puzzles the Myst series is renowned for, End of Ages will emphasize exploration more than we've seen in the past. The goal is for gamers to spend less time hitting walls with certain puzzles than they have in the previous installments. This way, the exploration and story elements won't ever (hopefully) come to a standstill.

We were shown an example of how the puzzles are a more natural part of the world around you, and how solving the puzzles themselves can sometimes change the world and foster further exploration. Strange creatures that have the ability to make changes to the world - such as influencing the weather - inhabit one of the environments you will be exploring. You will need their help in order to overcome certain obstacles, but a problem arises because you have no way of communicating with them. So you must learn their language and write down on a slate in the game what you would like the creatures to do. If what you write is understandable to them, they will carry out your instructions.