I basically grew up with Myst and Riven. Over the years, my admiration for the original Riven has only grown. The universe is fantastic, the puzzles were perfectly integrated, and the environmental storytelling remains one of the best even today. This remake is everything I hoped for and more. I know the original by heart, but this version add changes and new details to a lot of new areas so even though it feels like the old Riven but upgraded, it is so much more. It's almost a new game entirely, and as an old fan it's a delight. The environmental storytelling has been expanded, a lot of things are now more consistent and developed. The Rivenese culture especially now feels a lot more present, and the decaying state of Riven is also convened in a more immersive way. I won't go into too much details, but expect every island and age to have more to offer. There are a bunch of new puzzles and the hardest ones have been made clearer (although be warned, you'll still have to take a lot of notes!). BUT they've also been expanded in other ways, so it ends up being a more "leveled" experience. This is still Riven though, nothing is obvious at first glance, and you won't get far without a notebook (and this remake has a screenshot + annotation system). The one thing that disappoint a little is that some of the 3D characters are a bit underwhelming in their lighting and animation, but for a small studio like Cyan, it's quite an challenging area. The focus has been made on the most important character moments, though Catherine's model and animation could still use some refining. There are also a couple of completely new characters and their writing and animation is pretty great. But you'll have to see it for yourself.
This game was meant to be a spiritual successor to Myst, and I think it delivered on this. You play as an unknown character (you!), suddenly uprooted from Earth and thrown on a distant planet. The beginning of the game is really well done, as it presents you with elements both familiar and completely alien. Nothing seems to make sense at first, but you will piece everything together as you explore! The puzzles are not dumped on you in an obvious way, rather, they are integrated with the world in a way that makes sense in regard to the story. Looking at everything, asking yourself questions, taking notes and photos is essential. Everything is there for a reason. Getting clues to solve the puzzle is only part of the gameplay ; most things are leftovers, bits of stories from the people who lived there and will help you understand who they were, what they wanted, why they left. The game is quite brilliant with its environmental storytelling. A few journals help with understanding the story, but you will still have to think to understand what was really going on in this world, as well as what your role is within it. The moment when you'll go "oh THAT'S why this works!" are really memorable. The immersion was so strong I bought an actual notebook to record my thoughts and the clues I found (felt like a real Myst character)! PROS: + Very strong art direction with varied environments + Great environmental storytelling + Music is rare but has really emotional moments + Journals tell the story of the characters and don't dump lore on you for no reason OK: ~ Little warning: there is a puzzle involving a bit of math (learning an alien numbering system). I loved it but if you are really not okay with math, check the wiki. CONS: - Areas are large, and backtracking can be a bit tedious especially with a particular puzzle (the node teleportation mode can help). - Acting is okay but not amazing. You meet a couple of FMV characters and the green backdrop is a little noticeable
This is a masterpiece by Telltale Games. If you played some of their games, you already know if you like the gameplay or not. If you do, the story is worth it, I assure you. For those who never played it, you can think of it as an interactive movie, with a comic book art style. For the most part it consists of dialogues, where you choose the important lines of the main character. Short sentences are displayed, but the actual dialogue is often a lot longer, so you never have the feeling your character is an empty shell. They have a real personality and meaningful interactions with other characters. There is a bit of exploration sometimes, even some "puzzles" in the first season, although they quicky disappear. And the action sequences consist of QTEs, which are pretty immersive. Except if you don't like QTE of course. The story is obviously what this games are all about, and it's GREAT. In short, it's about a convict, Lee, who encounters and then protect Clementine, a little girl he encountered at the beginning of the epidemic who's looking for her parents. Of course, you will get to make a lot of choices, both small and important, that can have consequences of various proportions. You may often hear that the choices are meaningless because the story always ends up the same. This is true to some extent - the devs can hardly build 8 completely different stories at the same time. It's not really a problem, as the real impact of a choice is at the moment you make them. This is how I enjoyed these games, by getting really invested into the characters. These games give you the feeling of being both a writer and a spectator to their stories, of setting them in a path while letting them surprise you. The story itself is amazing, and Clementine became my favorite video game character ever. Seeing her grow up and harden throughout the games is priceless. I cried numerous times. I'm writing this just as Ifinished the last game and my eyes litteraly hurt from crying.
It's always a nice gesture from the publishers to release the soundtrack of their games for people who like soundtracks. And we have almost every track in the game here! I wasn't really paying attention to the music until Chapter 05, which has AMAZING ones: Gigi's song is both funny and moving, and the DJ Game's song is really well implemented too.
