Riven (1997)

It is a great game, BUT under WINXP there is no way to SAVE the game. The only people who managed to save were running it on a virtual machine. So if you plan on buying it, be aware that you need to either play it in one run or additionally buy WIN98SE to install it on a virtual machine. Even though people have kept posting on this issue, gog has so far not come up with a solution.

If you are willing to and able to tweak your computer and settings to make it work, apparently it is possible. If you are looking for plug & play (i.e. download, install and play it) forget this title.

Riven is a great improvement over the first Myst game in terms of immersion and atmosphere. Not only the graphics are better, but mainly the way you interact with the environment. I really liked how polished the various mechanical contraptions and transportation animations felt. It's also convenient -- get ready to travel a lot back and forth between the islands, because it's easy to miss a vital clue every now and then, and also more interesting than relying just on the linking books to travel. The puzzles are great as well, although I have to admit that a couple times I was hopelessly stuck because I just didn't know what to do next or what I was supposed to accomplish, even after solving a part of a puzzle; the clues are there, but many come from the various journals you get to read and it's easy to forget what you'd read before by the time you get to the relevant part in the game. So it's a good thing to jot down anything that seems relevant, reread the journals if you are stuck, and keep a notebook handy because you're likely going to end up working out certain puzzles on paper, not because they are hard per se, but because they are complex and require visiting several sites to solve. The only regrettable thing is that there are many areas which are deceptively inviting--such as the village or the rebel base--only to disappoint later when you find out they are not accessible for exploration. :( Overall, recommended to anyone who enjoys using their brain, because despite its age the game still easily tops many more recent puzzlers.

My favorite among the Myst games.

I remember beating this game with a buddy in 3 days of 9 hours each, when it came out in 1997 or 1998. The atmosphere is still unbelievable over 25 years later, and the puzzles still as hard.