Riven

The Myst series is a beautiful work of art. Puzzles are familiar but different in VR. The only disappointment is that the journeys in the submarine and transporter between islands isn't viewable. You only see a black screen until you arrive at your destination. I really miss seeing the underwater scenery and the journey between islands.

It's really lovely to be back in the world of Riven. The CG characters that replace the FMV ones are not a major downgrade, and worth it for the very nice upgrades to the graphics in general. The freedom of view and movement is really nice, and the atmosphere is every bit as great as it was. I'm someone who forgets a playthrough after a few years, so the puzzles aren't immediately obvious to me, and I'm told there are differences as well, so to me it's eminently replayable. The negative parts are also graphics related. Random crashes have happened twice in about four hours of play, and I've been locked into the terrain because it spawned in after I moved there. I had to use a third party tool to fix my save file, as reloading didn't work, and the last autosave before that was more than two hours old. Just remember to save frequently and you should be good. Don't rely on just the autosaves.

This new version of Riven has the same five islands as the old version (so far) but there is much more detail and color, and the puzzles are different. Your old Riven notes will not help much. It's odd to feel like you've been somewhere before and yet need to explore it all, at the same time, but that is how this feels. There's a lot to see and do and figure out. I can't wait to get further in. I am enjoying it so much. Like other Cyan games, it really takes you out of your own world, into another.

Warframe joke in title. It's fantastic, a real blast from the past. The skyboxes and environments look great but the CG people are still a little jarring. Getting used to it though. Thanks for the remake! Now do my favorite, Exile!

For those who don't know Riven, it's a sequel to the exploration-based atmospheric puzzle classic MYST. A lot of little details to pay attention to in order to solve environmental puzzles that will likely challenge you for hours without help. For those more familiar with the classic, this isn't a totally faithful remake. The order of things is changed, area layouts and access to some locations are changed--all to keep things fresh, I suppose. Lots of little surprises even for diehard fans of the original. The game itself is breathtaking, same as the original. It's mostly well-optimised--spare a few places, you're not going to need a top-of-the-line rig to max everything out. Did a playthrough on a laptop with a GPU roughly equal to a 4060, with 8GB VRAM, and it was able to play really well on 4K medium settings, and with AMDs AI, was even playable with 4K epic settings. The biggest complaint I have is that the few human characters look cartoonishly out of place in contrast to how beautiful the rest of the game looks. Definitely worth it, though.