"And they say videogame development isn't an art form..."

Riven is an adventure game developed by Cyan Worlds and is the sequel of Myst, one of the best Adventure games ever. Myst raised the bar for the genre and its immense popularity paved the way for a sequel. The developers had the money to do something 10 times better than the first game and in many ways they have. Riven looks not 10 but 100 times better than Myst, with excellent graphics, better actors, improved sound and a great plot. The gameplay is pretty much the same… but is that a bad thing? Why fix something that isn't broken?

Story: 10/10
Presentation: 9.8/10

Once again you are the “Stranger” and Atrus summons you and tells you that he needs help in saving his wife Catherine, who is a prisoner of his father Gehn in the island complex of the Age of Riven. Ages for those new in the series are worlds that were created through an ancient “Art” and the links to these worlds are the books that were written with this mysterious technique. He gives you a prison book to capture Gehn and his recent diary, concerning the inescapable decay of Riven. Upon entering Riven you'll meet 2 mysterious characters whose appearance will create a lot of new questions and from then on you will be on your own trying to find Catherine and Gehn while trying to unveil the mysteries of the Age. A thing that I always loved in the Myst series and especially in Riven is the fact that the Ages feel “real”! They have character, they have a special aura that makes you feel that people actually lived here. Every piece of equipment, every strange symbol, every creature, piece of clothing, etc makes you feel that you are in a real world and not a videogame with a certain number of levels and while the ending leaves something to be desired the whole experience makes up for it.

Gameplay: 9/10
Replay Value: 4/10

Riven, while much better than Myst is in essence the same game, so it will only appeal to the same kind of people the original did. Riven throws you in a world with the purpose of capturing a villain and rescuing someone, but that's pretty much the only info about your mission. From then on its all about exploring the vast Age of Riven and unlocking its mysteries step by step. Like in Myst you will have to experiment with the various machinery you'll find and take a lot of notes, since everything in Riven has a reason for being there and of course solve a lot of puzzles. The best strategy you can follow here is to think that Riven is a real world and that you truly are there. Never think that you are playing a videogame and never guess the solutions to the puzzles but think, think, think. Think why that machine is there, imagine its original purpose by observing all the small details and then proceed with solving the puzzle. Riven is a game that will appeal only to those people that love reasonable thinking, that ones that like “connecting the dots”

Ma hed herts Ma':
All you whiners out there, please, pleeeeeease shut UP!!! I always hear about how hard the Myst games are and I really can't understand why. I will repeat the things I've said in my Myst review: I'm not bragging when I say this… the challenge of the game is just fine with me. I'm no genius, I'm not a guy that has the patience of playing the same damn level 1000 times before I get the hang of it, I'm not your typical uber-gamer… however I managed to finish Riven in the same amount of time I needed to finish Myst and that's only ONE WEEK. Yes the game IS tough… it's a puzzle based Adventure game, what did you expect? A RPG where you can level up to lvl99 by killing one million goblins or something??? And while it is a hard game, (harder than Myst), none of the puzzles were illogical like in some other Adventure Games that scream for a FAQ. Once again the concept is very simple: Open your eyes, turn on your brain and TAKE NOTES!!! Nothing more, nothing else. All puzzles are great even though they aren't SO damn better than Myst's as some reviews say they are. The only bad thing in Riven is that all action takes place in only one veeery large area forcing you to go back and forth between locations way too often to experiment with the various machinery of the island and if you have the CD-ROM version you will have to change discs each time you visit a different island.

Graphics: 10/10
Design: 9.8/10

Talk about improvement. If Myst managed to captivate gamers with its low budget CG graphics imagine what the photorealistic look of Riven can do. Back in the day when it first came out it was simply the most beautiful game. The Age of Riven looks fabulous, with excellently designed structures and landscapes, great texturing and lighting. Above all though the game has atmosphere and looks “real”. That's the biggest strength of the Myst series. The world of Riven isn't a videogame world, but a world where people lived and have left their mark on. Each strange symbol, each weird looking machine or structure is part of a “real” world. Next the acting has been greatly improved. In the first game the fusion of live actors and the game world was decent at best and the acting skills of the developers, (I'm not kidding), was ok but not enough. In Riven the quality of the video fusion of real actors and computer-generated images is almost perfect and the actors are now actual professionals. There is only one tiny flaw here that may annoy some people more than it annoyed me. In Riven we have only 3 Ages, but you will spent 99.9% of your time in Riven which may get quite boring after a while since the Age's islands although beautiful are pretty much the same.

Sound: 8.5/10
Music: 7.5/10

In this section Riven has gone 1 step forward and one step backward. The sound effect's quality has increased to the sky. It is now crystal clear, realistic and “non-looping”. Most ambient sounds of course ARE indeed loops but they don't sound like they are if you know what I mean. The wind for example sounds like a continuous stream of air and not like a broken record that has stuck in a 10 second loop like in the first Myst. The backward step has to do with the music, which while certainly isn't bad isn't something special either. In Myst each area, each Age, each solution to a puzzle has a small music theme that was quite catchy while in Riven all themes are forgettable and quite similar.

[+]:
-A wonderful world that feels “real” with a great plot underneath
-Challenging puzzles that require exploration, observation and reason
-Excellent graphics
-Better SFX than Myst

[-]:
-Too much walking around…
-The CD-ROM version makes you swap between discs too often
-You will spent most of your time in one Age
-Average music

Also Play:
Myst 3
Real Myst (PC)
Rhem (PC)
The Neverhood (PC)

Overall: 8.6/10

Riven is one of these few games that aren't just games but an experience. It doesn't have the replay value of a RTS, the in-depth character development of an RPG, or the adrenaline pumping action of a FPS or Fighting game. What it has though is a world that will draw you in and never let you go. If you like Adventure games find it… just make sure you buy the DVD version :)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/22/10

Game Release: Riven: The Sequel to Myst (DVD) (US, 1998)