Riven: The Sequel to MYST Reviews

Best game ever. Better puzzles than remake.

Banging my head again my table every puzzle, 10/10.

Still holds up in 2025. Masterpiece.

Very good story ! :P

Riven is so amazing, it makes Myst look like child's play by comparison. Whereas the latter asked the player to observe carefully their surroundings, Riven demands observational skills be pushed to their utmost limits. You will quickly come to feel that not even a single screen is without meaning; not a single object without purpose. Just like in its predecessor, there are many levers and switches to be found, but don't expect them to lead to immediate gratification—this game is set up much differently, and attaining any sense of fulfilment is a significantly lengthier process, as it's built of larger, overarching puzzles. Inevitably, this will lead to much wandering without a mechanism in sight. Thankfully, the world of the Fifth Age is so stunningly realised and open-ended, it's quite likely you'll come away enjoying yourself just with the sights and sounds alone. This involuntary sightseeing will naturally cause you to look at the same things again and again, eventually re-contextualising them, which is exactly what is expected. A truly remarkable achievement in so many ways, and easily one of the greatest (and most beautiful) games ever made. Be sure to take notes, and avoid guides at all costs—[i]this is a once in a lifetime experience.[/i] [b]Rating: 9/10[/b]

Incredible, incredible game. In the year 1997, you just make one of the best games ever. Thank you Cyan. I'll definitely play the rest of these series.

Several acclaimed indie games of the past decade like Outer Wilds, Void Stranger, Return of the Obra Dinn, and Case of the Golden Idol have intrigued players with their progression philosophy of gathering information. It does have an Achilles heel though: a tug-of-war between worldbuilding and progress-gating puzzles. The world should be intriguing, but when most of your puzzles are so elusive that their solutions have to be etched in stone somewhere, like in Outer Wilds or Void Stranger, I question why the creators didn’t just write a nonlinear novel. Freeform storytelling has existed for a long time. I’m not going to discredit this approach without offering an alternative though. Let’s rewind the clock to 1993, before I and most of you reading left the womb. Myst, the best-selling PC game for nearly a decade, was about to be released. The grandfather of adventure puzzles, it threw you into a foreign universe with zero context. Exploring the iconic starting isle and tinkering with its machinery raised questions of all types. Why is there a hollow rocket next to a Greco-Roman temple library? What kind of discoveries did Atrus make? Why are his sons trapped inside books? All I will say is that the misplaced familiarity isn’t so confounding. The puzzles are different because of Atrus’ zeal to forge new worlds via linking books. A perfect excuse for designers Rand and Robyn Miller to stir their creative juices. After spending several hours with the game, the uncompromising dedication to environmental storytelling hit me. Everything is conveyed through visuals that the player must interpret before any semblance of a solution can be formulated. This approach cemented the Miller brothers as strong game makers and storytellers, so it’s not surprising that Riven carries the same strengths. While it does abandon the environmental variety of its predecessor, it more than makes up for it in nuance. No puzzles for their own sake, only a rich world dripping with detail and history. Every machine, symbol, rock, tool, and door was labored over and pre-rendered without compromise. It’s staggering how much crisper it looks than its predecessor despite coming out only four years later. If it wasn’t for the SD image output, this could easily pass for a modern-looking title. I’m so thankful for all this detail because minus a few diary entries and cutscenes, Riven is all show and no tell. You need to study the environment carefully and visit each island multiple times before you even think about finishing the game. This is precisely what exploring an alien civilization would be like and I would love to see this in other games. Exploring and problem-solving through visuals alone will not be for everyone. Even I had to use a guide at times, but I can’t fault obscurity when it results in a hypnotizing work of art. Besides, I made more than enough solo progress to feel satisfied once the credits rolled. Steel thy mind, click everywhere, and take plenty of notes. Assimilate yourself into the Fifth Age, and its enigmas will eventually crumble before you.