Riven

I played Riven when it first came out back in the late 90's and had completely forgotten about it. The new version is nothing short of a slow paced feast for the eyes. Please make sure you have a powerful graphics card to enjoy it to the fullest. My own RTX 4070 allowed me to play in 4K with HDR and that made the game a continuous 12 hour wondrous amazement. I purchased the Deluxe edition with the Riven Companion and finished the game in 12 hours. Having this guide made a big difference.

It turned out beautifully! The graphics are - as they were back then - stunning, the scenario is as great as I remembered it. The addition of a notebook where you can capture screenshots and annotate them is a great idea, it saves you from ending up with the whole table covered in paper notes (you still have to make a few handwritten notes, but that's the appeal of these games, after all, it's about writing worlds). I played Riven back in 1997 and again at some point, and I'm thoroughly enjoying being able to go back to it now and experience it in new splendor.

I've been a fan of Cyan since Myst 1993. I've played through almost every entry they've released, and many other similar "Myst-likes" and I can say with absolute certainty that this is their best work yet. The original game is a masterclass in worldbuilding, puzzle design, environmental effects, etc., but it did suffer from the node based system that made it somewhat awkward to navigate. The resolution, while great for the time, does leave some wishing it was higher res, more detail. And now we have it. In glorious 4k. On my rig with an aging Ryzen and a 4070, I set the graphics to max and barely dipped below 60 the whole time, running at native 4k. This isn't the most demanding game ever. But it sure is pretty. I can't tell you how many times I found myself audibly mesmerised at the game. It also does have a few changes to the original game that I won't spoil here. If you like the original, Myst, or any other game of this kind, you won't be regretting picking this one up. Honestly, this game might have surpassed almost every other one in the genre, other than The Talos Principle as my all time favorite game ever.

Beautiful work, and as a lover of original Riven I was very surprised at all the new puzzles and reworking of some of the old ones! The textures and environments are immersive and gorgeous. My sole disappointment was the CGI characters instead of the classic actors. Limitations, I guess, but it lost some of Riven's greatest charm and feel. Regardless, I'm loving this playthrough and have barely scratched the surface so far, I know. Thank you, Cyan!

Mind blowing graphics! Worth a good graphics card!