Riven (1997)

Riven is a masterclass of puzzle, atmosphere, and writing. What makes Riven unique, even today, as a venerable classic that has inspired countless other games, is how organic its puzzling feels. It never breaks immersion. There's never a moment of "why would they build that". In fact, it seems almost incorrect to say that Riven has puzzles at all. Riven has an environment, where people have lived and worked and struggled against one another, and the locations and objects they have made in that process present obstacles that will require your utmost ingenuity to overcome and attain your goals. The puzzle is the world, the world is the puzzle. It's a fantastic, seamless coherence between setting and puzzle design. It is difficult to put into words how engrossing this is to play. It can get frustrating at times because sometimes you will be stuck not because you have yet to figure something out or because you need to explore further, but simply because you missed something. My tip for this overlooking problem if you play this game is NOT to use a guide. It sucks the joy right out of solving the problems, and without that joy, the game is nothing. In fact, the game teaches you what kind of approach most of its puzzles require, so looking up solutions is only hamstringing your ability to figure out the puzzles later. So here's what you should do: first, take notes. You will not succeed without taking notes. Second, get into the mindset of the game. Why did they build this like this? Where would I create a lever/passage/what have you if I designed this area? Second, go through it slowly. Pay attention. Look around. Take in the atmosphere. Again, Riven isn't a game of puzzles spread out over an empty world. The world is the puzzle. You will need everything you see, because you will need context. As the promotional text says, you need to let Riven become your world. Then if you're still stuck ask for a hint on a forum. No guides!

First off: this game is old, but absolutely playable in 2022. It has almost no jank and the experience is smooth through the GOG installer. This game is an extremely immersive puzzle solver, with a great story and beautiful graphics. It's also pretty hard: you'll need to pay very close attention to all the things you see and hear throughout the game - all the senses available to the developer are used to full effect. Often I would find myself going out on a limb based on something I spotted earlier - and find it was the intended solution. Very satisfying! One point: this game is occasionally obtuse. I solved every major puzzle without hints, but I got stuck for some time in two places because I simply had not noticed a visual detail or clickable location. So my advice is click EVERYTHING that looks like a button, and [HINT AHEAD] open and close every door from every possible direction. This game is comparable in difficulty and satisfaction to modern puzzle adventures like Obduction (same developers) or even Outer Wilds, though it lacks the emotional connection I formed with the latter. Worth a try!

Riven... A tyrant, a rebellion, a family full of pain. A game where every picture tells its own story. SEE - not just watch - the world. Have a nice journey...

So this review is based off of playing the game Riven in 2012. It does not work as well as it once did. PC played on includes Win8 64bit release preview. This gog.com version requires compatibility mode settings for Win xp or earlier to be able save the game and to view animations which are a must or you'll never make it through the game as the animations are required to play much of it. Also, there are frequent game lockups that have one exit CTRL-ALT-DEL and sign out the Windows user then sign back in. The view is 640x480 so its grainy and blocky yet quite good really for its age. You'll have to play in 640x480 fullscreen or with today's screen sizes it'll be so small you'd have to be a few inches from the screen to see anything. For the controls its mouse only. No keyboard in this one. Just LOTS of clicking. Click left, click right, click here and there, etc. That said the game is as fun as it was when it came out. (Besides the problems noted above which can cause lots of starting back at the beginning until the lesson is learned. Which also btw, isn't so bad as the more you explore the easier and faster you know what to do of which is mostly just exploring.) The game starts out with FMV that sets up everything. Your released and off you go exploring. In a flash you can travel much of the game and just keep figuring out how things work together to open up new areas. Without remembering anything from first playing Riven when it was released it didn't take long to get most of the game figured out. Its really not all that hard. Two of the later puzzles will require some thinking time if you want to or just look it up. So the game is actually not very long, the puzzles not that difficult (And how I do hate difficult puzzles!), fun if its your sort of game, and works barely well enough to play through with plenty of lockup exits included. I found it worth it - just barely.

I found out that GOG existed, and my perspective of "having a real good time" changed. So many years longing a IOS version of Myst saga would be released, as no way to reuse old CD games, and now I want them ALL! Playing it again after so long, it's just AMAZING. Thank you GOG team.