Riven

As far as creating the world goes, it's almost everything I wanted in a modern Riven remake. I am taking off a star only because I feel all of the cons could have easily been addressed during development if just one more brain cell had been activated. If you are a new player, I strongly recommend you play Myst first. If you have already played Myst, then you have an idea of what to expect. No further introduction will be necessary. Pros: - Fresh take for returning players: It looks like Riven, it sounds like Riven, it feels like Riven, it must be Riven. It is Riven. But you will quickly begin to notice changes here and there. Many of the puzzles have been modified (for the better) and new areas have been added while others removed entirely. In other words, you will be relearning how solve the game. - Controller support. Give/Take: - Knowledge of the original game will help you a lot, and you'll appreciate the little nods to the original game. However, that same knowledge can also get you into places earlier than you should. Cons: - Getting from point A to point B can be tedious and time consuming. Running is slow, walking is painfully slow. The village area has way too many ladders. There are a few other examples I could cite, but I don't want to accidentally drop any spoilers. Lets just say I feel like the original game was, ironically, more convenient in this regard. - Controller mapping is not optimal.

Riven is one of my all-time favorite games, and this remake got as close as possible to recapturing the magic of my first playthrough. Its additions ensured wonderful surprises even with the original burned into my brain and the puzzle updates demanded I actually solve them anew rather than coast on memory. Every iconic locale is stunningly realized, and the layout adjustments are smart and make sense within the logic of the world. The story, with its critique of colonialism and fascist phenomenology, remains powerful and relevant, and the narrative additions are intriguing. The character models are perhaps a bit lacklustre, especially compared to the incredible environment art, but it's a minor point. Overall, this is an excellent remake and any fan of Riven or curious newcomer ought to play it. My only other slight nitpick involves the tweaks to the central puzzles. The original Riven featured, in my opinion, the most organically integrated puzzles in adventure gaming history. It created the feeling that you were truly probing a strange world, divining its workings, and leveraging your findings to complete your mission. It remains unparalleled. The remake reworks these central puzzles in the interest of making them less opaque, ensuring they stand out from the world of Riven in slightly starker relief. By definition, this means trading in some of that organic integration in favor of a more "game-y" presentation. This is a nuance, however, and not enough for me to shave a star off of my rating. Cyan has created a magisterial reimagining of their absolute masterpiece, but they have not precisely replicated it, and thus they have not rendered it obsolete. For this reason, I think the original 1997 version is still worth playing if you can stomach the retro experience. However, I wouldn't recommend playing it *instead* of the remake, but *in addition to* it.

I'm a longtime fan of Cyan's games. Riven is my gold standard in terms of you are there realism. Everything from the placement/logic of the puzzles within the game to the characters creates a world that endears itself to you as if it were your own. Cyan going in had a high bar to clear and they knew it, bringing back Richard Vander Wende who gets a lot of credit from the creators for establishing the cool factor of the original Riven. This however is not simply a remake. They have done things here that they did not have the technology or hindsight to do with the original. Plot points that didn't quite make sense have been expanded upon. Different areas have been opened. The game itself feels more epic and fully realized than the original. While I understand the impossibility of translating live action (especially at the older standard resolution) to full 3D it does lessen the expressions some of the original performances carried but that does not have a large impact on the overall experience. Play the game for yourself. You will be more than impressed at this new and in many ways improved version of Riven.

First off I have long considered this game to be one of the first true examples of video games as art. I haven't fully played through the game in 20ish years so the puzzles were completely fresh to me and allow me to truly gauge their quality. The Pro's - Gorgeous visuals and amazing sound design. - Revamped puzzles. Some of the more annoying puzzles have been re-designed so you don't need a ream of graph paper to solve it. - The story is just a poignant as before and leaves you wondering about the backstory. The Con's - The movement is as slow as ever. I fully understand that this is on purpose so as to immerse you in the world...and it succeeds, but that doesn't change the fact that a good 2 hours of my playtime were simply me back tracking. - The puzzle difficulty is massively in-balanced. I was able to complete 90% of the game and all but 2 of the puzzles in about 5 hours with only a few jotted notes. I then spent close too 4 hours on 2 puzzles. As a kid I was equally bad at all the puzzles. But now I can see that some of them were leagues more difficult. All that being said it's well worth the cost for a weekend of fun. Thanks again Cyan. Proud to support a small dev giving us great games.

New RIVEN is the greatest remake ever made of the greatest game ever made ! Beautiful, imaginative, mesmerising, immersing, atmospheric, artistic, engaging, trilling, unforgettable .., RIVEN has been my favourite Myst world game back then, and I have to say - it continues to be with this remake that certainly exceeded all my expectations. I enjoyed every second of the game-play, all together with several hidden treasures (or Easter Eggs as they call them) that I could miss without knowing they even existed, since they are not part of any puzzle and not needed to finish the game. So take your time to search carefully ...... Typically CYAN/MYST kind of puzzles, unlike in the original game, are not too difficult this time. In fact, they are quite easy to solve when you pay attention to every detail, take the time to search every place thoroughly, read every single book, and - take notes. I highly recommend this gem to everyone who loves CYAN's games. It is a treasure not to be missed. And trust me - it is worth every cent. I highly recommend it !!!