Riven (1997)

The less said the better. This is the inspiration for many of the great puzzle games today. If you haven't played it yet, now is the time.

manque de verdures mais bien .

As a sequel to MYST, it's what you expect- a number of puzzles spread across a few big set pieces with an interesting story and a superb atmosphere. The graphics are a bit dated, but hold up well. It's part of the nostalgia factor. The story builds on MYST very well, but is weighed down a bit by how much is implied. It's great if you catch the nuances, unclear if you miss something. I found the puzzles less enjoyable, but more grand in scope, compare to MYST. Where MYST felt like a variety of smaller puzzles, RIVEN feels like a handful of major puzzles in larger set pieces. I found them to be interesting ideas, but often less memorable than MYST. It felt like less variety. The repetitiveness was more noticeable as well. My biggest gripe is how many set pieces never felt significant or used. Many areas never factored into the game in any significant away. This feels liek a missed opportunities both for the story and for the puzzles. The sound- music, effects, and the use of silence- is spot on. I would like to see more current games use sound this well. Overall, a solid sequel bolstered by fun world building and a definite sense of accomplishment when solving some of the more challenging puzzles. Even with its weak points, it's hard not to recommend at least a few playthroughts, especially given the many different possible endings.

Si le 1 était déja un plaisir de difficulté, Riven en ajoute encore plus. Les décors sont également plus travaillés et inspirés

I expected a Myst-kind of game where you travel across worlds, solve puzzles to move further, and uncover mysteries. But most of the time in Riven I found myself completely lost in a huge world with a few places I could interact with. I had to look into guides to understand that I missed some object or path. I liked the puzzle with the platform rotating around the sphere in three dimensions, but slow movement, slow animations, and long cutscenes made me bored.