Riven REVIEW
Three years ago, in 2021, Myst saw the light — a reissue of the cult adventure game, released back in 1993. It was reprinted several times, but the sequels were almost never reprinted. Therefore, the release of Riven, a direct continuation of the Myst story, turned out to be almost more interesting than the original. Whether the authors managed to capture the magic of the original when transferring the title to a new engine and how the adventure of more than twenty years ago was preserved in general — read our review.
The wanderer, who in the past saved Atrus from imprisonment in the world of D’ni and did not succumb to the provocations of the sons of the creator of the worlds, must again help a newly made friend. As last time, we are talking about Atrus’ family problems: the bookseller’s father, Gen, is trapped in the Riven world, which is rapidly declining. He was locked up there, of course, for a reason: Gene went mad and began to create unstable worlds, seeing them rather as something like sources of resources, so Atrus locked his father without an opportunity to get out – just so that he would not harm even more. The problem is that Atrus’ wife Katerina, who is also a native of Riven, also turned out to be in Riven. The player will have to intervene again: Atrus asks to rescue Katerina and imprison Gene in a trap book, from which it is simply impossible to get out. With such a parting word, Atrus sends the Wanderer on a one-way trip without a return book, so that the Gene does not break out ahead of time.
The Riven tie-in was created as a direct sequel to Myst and will be little understood by the player from the outside. However, as in the first game of the series, the plot here is not that very important, so if you really want to, you can start with the second part. However, it is not recommended to skip the first one — it is good even after a little over 30 years.
If Myst offered the island of the same name as a basis for traveling to other eras (this is what the worlds enclosed in books created with the help of Art are called here), then Riven takes place almost entirely within the framework of one reality. Riven is the name of a world that is gradually being destroyed due to an unsuccessful Gene concept. As a result, instead of a single map, the player needs to visit five fragmented islands connected by maglevs (something like a monorail, but with a signature flavor) and other means of transportation. At the same time, each island has its own signature flavor and — most often — more worlds from the original Myst.
“More” is generally the word that first comes to mind when describing Riven. It’s bigger than Myst in everything: more characters involved, more locations, more puzzles, more places to explore. This was the case in the original 1997 game, and the remake is not expected to be inferior in this regard. Complete freedom of movement allows you to finally fully familiarize yourself with the world of Riven and look into every nook and cranny: in the original, movement was carried out exclusively between static screens, so the opportunity to walk “with your own two” is more welcome than ever.
In Riven, freedom of movement is especially important: the title was originally created both for fans of adventure games with puzzles and for “virtual tourists”: the islands of Riven are simply beautiful and interesting to explore. Several cultures that are alien to each other collide at once, which is obviously striking. On the one hand, there is a megalomaniac view of Gene’s things: there is a lot of gold and a penchant for the Victorian era and strange mechanisms. On the other hand, there are two opposing local trends: ordinary residents adhere to an organic roundness, while opponents of the Gene regime stick rather to sharp features, somewhat reminiscent of the visual of indigenous Africans.
These three styles regularly clash with each other: in a local village, you can find a school built by a Gene, and there are units of a mad genius in it. And there are rebel totems nearby. Surprisingly, all three different cultures organically coexist with each other, and the non-banal nature of Riven also works on their interweaving. Better than others, its strangeness and foreignness are visible on the jungle island: there the player can take a full look at the flora and fauna of another world. There is really something to watch: even if Riven were just a walking simulator without a plot and puzzles, it would work great as a virtual travel space.
In addition to hiking on the islands, there are several alternative ways to travel. One of the first players to meet the already mentioned maglev is a strange mechanism that moves between disparate islands on rails hanging in the air. On the jungle island, you can find an interesting rail bathyscaphe moving underwater, but at the same time able to “open” air pockets in the water column (there is an in-game explanation for this, which is important both for the plot and for solving puzzles). And here you can ride a mining trolley or travel between islands using an interdimensional cleft — for the time being, this path will be ordered for the player, but over time it will become almost the main way of traveling.
However, Riven has become iconic in many ways not because of the outstanding visual (although he, of course, played a role). Not the last thing in this was occupied in a good way by clever puzzles built on the same principles as in Myst. An important difference from the usual point’n’lick adventure games is the lack of inventory: the player does not need to collect everything that is not bolted to the floor in order to use it in the most unobvious way at the right moment. Local riddles are organically embedded in the environment and are solved logically in most cases, although they often require preliminary collection of information from several sources.
This, however, implies a feature of the game that distinguishes it from Myst. In the previous part of the story, in most cases, the user simply had to study the era in which he found himself in order to find all the solutions and complete the next segment. In contrast, Riven is an integral (albeit fragmented) world, so the keys to the riddles can be scattered at great distances from each other. Because of this, it is more important than ever to keep notes — in which the game, as in the latest Myst remake, is for the most part ready to help by providing a built-in camera that allows you to “photograph” all important moments for the future. Considering the number of key notes, the thing is really very useful.
However, as in Myst, the camera is not a panacea: some puzzles require a more comprehensive solution, and for some you need to memorize sequences of sounds. It is better, as always, to keep a notebook at hand — it will help, among other things, to understand the local number systems, which often appear in riddles.
Interestingly, the developers made a number of changes to the original: if Myst could be played in the “classic” mode and literally use the same solutions as before, then such a trick would not work with Riven. Yes, some riddles really remain the same, but many have a random solution. It is no less interesting that there are riddles similar to the original ones, but which have become simpler: for example, setting up a book for traveling to the world of 233 does not require filigree accuracy, and besides, it is devoid of an “extra” sixth sphere. This greatly simplifies the search for a solution, which, given the already difficult puzzles, is only a plus. However, not only the riddles have been updated: the same navigation through the world of Riven has also undergone a number of changes.
By modern standards, Riven may seem like a very difficult game: yes, all its puzzles are built solely on logic, but the tricky nuance is that this logic still needs to be understood. Plus, it is often necessary to find parallels between seemingly random things: the hint may be so unobvious that most players will simply pass by.
It is impossible not to talk about the local narrative. As in Myst, the player barely interacts with people. The Wanderer spends most of his time alone, traveling through the islands of Riven and trying to solve the riddles of Riven. Most of the plot is eventually learned through notes and diaries: the first of them, which was led by Atrus, is available in the bag from the very beginning, but besides him, there will be others. Over time, the player will be able to find Gene’s notes and learn about his plans, as well as get the diary of Katerina, Atrus’ wife, who outlined the history of the rebels, opponents of Gene. Reading diaries is not only fascinating from the point of view of narration, but also useful: they often hide useful notes about the solutions of certain riddles.
However, there is really not much of a plot here: Riven remains minimalistic in its presentation, limiting itself to short conversations and scattered notes, offering for the most part to build a picture of what is happening on its own. The latter is supported by both the environment with the already mentioned overlapping styles, as well as small gradual changes on the islands, with which you can track the presence of life on Riven.
As a result, it turns out to be a rather interesting story: the plot of the game is not overly fascinating, but the ent of the universe continues to open up and lays the foundation for further adventures, showing that only Mist and Riven (worlds, not games) will not be limited. The series has other sequels: there are only five parts in Myst, but whether the next three, created by non-Cyan, will have remakes remains a question.
Myst is, of course, good, but it has not been possible to get into the world of Riven until now. Therefore, in many ways this remake is even more valuable than the previous one: it retained everything that the original game is loved for, and at the same time was able to improve the controversial aspects without breaking anything. Riven 2024 is perhaps the best way to get to know the now classic story.
