Riven Review (2024) – a remastered masterpiece

There are certain studios that define the earliest memories of gamers like me. Their collective imaginations helped lay the foundation for the cinematic masterpieces we know today. Cyan Worlds is one such studio. The Myst, Obduction, Firmament and Uru series have transported us to new worlds, telling wondrous stories through imaginative and thought-provoking puzzles. These games also created entirely new ways to play, giving us beautiful, moving worlds that seemed to come to life and move long before 3D animation was a possibility. Today, 25 years later, the team is arguably back at its best: Riven. This modern remake revisits everything that made the original incredible and brings it to life in a fully realized 3D world. Whether you play on a pancake screen or in VR, it’s once again time to visit the strange world of Riven.

The best part about Riven is that you don’t need to know anything to get started. You don’t have to play Myst (although I highly recommend the remaster, also from Cyan Worlds – it’s available here), or the original Riven to start here. You’re as confused and lost as the protagonist, and that’s part of what brings this world to life: discovery. Without spoiling that sense of wonder and mystery, the broad strokes are that a series of islands are being buffeted by unseen forces. The ancient civilization that once inhabited them had discovered how to travel between worlds using books as a means of transportation. Naturally, with so much power, abuse is rife, and your friend Catherine has been dragged into the middle of it all. Using one of these books, you set out to save her, but will you manage to escape in time?

As soon as you arrive, stuck behind the rusty bars of a cage, you’ll see that Cyan Worlds has recreated those Hollywood-quality, semi-animated stills you could step into in 1997, but now fully realized in an explorable 3D format. world. The original ran from a CD-ROM (well, five of them. It came out on DVD a year later, thankfully), one of the first games to do so, but you basically traveled between flat screens with intelligent animations (more than 4000 in total!) to bring the moments in between to life. On these panels, you would solve complex puzzles that would often give you McGuffin to solve the next one. Now, in this remake, you’re free to walk around and observe all those formerly 2D elements from every angle, thanks to a full conversion to Unreal Engine 4. If you’ve ever wondered what the textures of the ‘massive sword stuck straight into the ground, what looks like to the left of the cage you arrive in, you are welcome to come closer now.

One of my favorite parts of Riven (and the Myst series for that matter) is that there is a huge amount of story to discover. Pulling on a golden beetle’s chain causes it to open its wings, revealing a small bezel with a mural inside. Looking inside reveals a pictogram that tells the story of the main antagonist and his rise to power. Likewise, your own journal entries contain a great deal of information and reveal a great deal. The best mysteries are often right in front of you, and more than once you’ll say “Oh, of course!” ” after looking at the solution for a while before realizing it was there all along. All of these puzzles are deeply rooted in logic, so don’t expect any Monkey Island non-sequiturs here. They’re by no means easy, and arguably more difficult than its predecessor Myst (with more than a few new puzzles added in this version), but they never feel unfair. Bring your thinking cap.

To help you solve your puzzles, you take a notebook. You can take a screenshot at any time, then come back to that screen and annotate it. This is incredibly useful because you can quickly reference puzzle pieces from another room or refer to symbols without having to write them down in a book in the real world. This whole series is steeped in mysteries that you’ll uncover over time, so it’s great to be able to take a photo of something that you think might be useful for reference later.

As I mentioned, the original game used animated video cut into still frames for the backgrounds, but it also had a full cast of actors to bring the game to life. Not all of these actors are with yet us, but they come to life in incredible ways in the game. I can’t say more without spoiling some incredible surprises, but suffice it to say that if you played the original, you will be blown away by what the Cyan team has accomplished here. I don’t know how else they could have done it, but it couldn’t have been cheap or easy, considering the incredible results. For those times when I don’t need to be vague, you’ll occasionally find a new face. These actors and actresses do a fantastic job bringing the game to life and are a welcome addition to the world of Riven.

If you have the necessary equipment, Riven also supports VR right out of the box. It’s a completely different experience, and now with the touch elements of VR, it’s more immersive than ever. The puzzles are the same, but being able to reach out and touch them is something else. As a spoiler-free example, when you’re first introduced to one of Riven’s major characters, you see five small golden beetles in a room. By pulling a string with a ring, the beetles spread their wings, revealing a small magnifying glass. Inside you can see a small pictogram that reveals certain elements of the story. Clicking the string is one thing, and the wings open fully when you do so. Doing it in VR means opening them slowly as you pull the string, spreading the wings as fast as you pull them. To be able to do it in VR… just wow.

One of the things you may not be used to if you’re new to the world of Myst and Riven is that these games aren’t traditionally linear. You can and probably will solve most puzzles when you stumble upon the answer or it finally occurs to you, but you are free to explore the world by unlocking various islands. You’ll visit them all frequently, so don’t expect the game to hold your hand and guide you from point A to point B. Explore, admire the worlds around you, and realize that the giant door you have encountered early will likely win. I won’t open until much later. This also means that you will have to get used to seeing the monolithic structure you need to achieve, but not really understanding how to get there. It’s another age of puzzles, and it will require patience, for better or worse.

While the visual improvements are the most obvious and probably the first thing you’ll notice, a lot of attention has been paid to the audio. It’s a major component of the world, and the Cyan Worlds team clearly agrees. The actors and actresses sound fantastic, the ambient sound of the world echoes in the background, and the music (which is brassier than Myst) has never sounded better. I don’t know if there was a re-recording, but it’s as warm and inviting as I remembered, setting the tone for this game perfectly.

Much of Riven involves standing on a cliff, looking into the distance, and wondering how to reach an area. It’s about pulling levers, pressing buttons, studying symbols and uncovering mysteries. Each puzzle tells you something about the overall story and the people within it, and in that discovery, the drive to continue. Yes, it’s beautiful and it looks wonderful, but that’s not the part that will hook you. No, the mysterious location created by Cyan Worlds will draw you in and hold you for the 15-20 hours it takes you to experience everything it has to offer. Considering all the love and care they put into this masterpiece, it’s wonderful to experience it all again.

Ron Burke is the editor-in-chief of Gaming Trend. Currently living in Fort Worth, Texas, Ron is an old-school gamer who enjoys RPGs, action/adventure, platformers, music games, and has recently gotten into tabletop gaming.

Ron is also a fourth-degree black belt, with a master’s rank in Matsumura Seito Shōrin-ryū, Moo Duk Kwan Tang Soo Do, Universal Tang Soo Do Alliance, and International Tang Soo Do Federation. He also holds ranks in several other styles in his quest to become a complete fighter.

Ron has been married to Laura Burke, editor-in-chief of Gaming Trend, for 28 years. They have three dogs: Pazuzu (Irish Terrier), Atë and Calliope (both Australian Kelpie/Pit Bull mixes), and an Axolotl named Dagon!

When Riven was first released in 1997, it was presented as a majestic work of art. Nearly 30 years later, Cyan Worlds returns to this world, bringing it up to modern standards using today’s tools. Once again, they have created a majestic work of art and a world worth exploring again. It will test your mind, it’s a treat for your eyes and ears, and if you like deep puzzles, this is a game you don’t want to miss.

—Ron Burke