Myst was developed by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller and their studio Cyan, and it became one of the most influential adventure games of the 1990s. The brothers first made children's games with HyperCard, and in the early 1990s they pitched an adult-oriented game with believable characters and ethical choices. Publisher Sunsoft agreed to fund Myst, which was designed around the limits of CD-ROM drives and slow data speeds. Puzzles were built into the environment, so players solved them like a circuit breaker in a house rather than an artificial puzzle. The game was made on Macintosh computers and used 3D rendered environments and QuickTime video. The title was inspired by Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island, and the game's mysterious island atmosphere became its signature.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.