Riven

Remakes are the current hot trend, with the likes of The Witcher, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Metal Gear Solid 3, Max Payne, and Silent Hill 2. This trend is somewhat of a double-edged sword, as there are always good intentions and some remakes are brilliant, but they can also miss the point and ruin the original experience intended. But then there are video games deserving a remake as they could be quite old, lack any accessibility, and just be made better with modern tech. Such as the System Shock remake.

Another game which deserved a remake and finally got one is the subject of today’s review, Riven, the cult classic puzzle masterpiece. Why did it deserve the remake treatment, and does it hold up?

Read on.


What is Riven?


Riven is the cult classic sequel to the critically acclaimed puzzle game Myst, released nearly 30 years ago. It was a big deal at the time to have a sequel to such a lateral behemoth as Myst, and depending on who you ask, both games could easily topple one another but both are incredibly important.

From a simpler time when PC games arrived in giant boxes, day-one updates weren’t a thing, and PS One games didn’t cost a house. Riven captured the same enticing lateral gameplay of its older sibling and even outmatched many Myst in some ways. Riven is a timeless classic, one that gave us superb pre-rendered graphics, cheesy but lovable characters, an exciting story and thought-provoking and rewards puzzles.

As remakes go, there are two formats, either to stay faithful and true to the original, mildly adjusting a few things, typically the quality of life changes. Or flat-out reimaging the outer layers while keeping the core intact mostly. And as the Riven remake goes, it’s a lot like the System Shock one from Nightdive, where it’s incredibly faithful adding in only quality of life, and a neat mechanic or two, without compromising or even changing anything else drastically. Which can work well.

And it does for Riven.


A classic, old story tale … from the 90’s (man I feel old)


Riven is all about puzzles, exploration, and unravelling the mystery of the five islands, and sticks to the classic method of storytelling in video games where notes and intense character exchanges will give you a better insight into the world and what is happening. While on the surface it is about you saving a young woman from an evil figure by solving various puzzles on several islands, there is a lot more depth and grandeur to the narrative, which you’ll see and learn through various handwritten notes, and speaking with the few denizens of the islands. I liked it, and while note-driven storytelling has become quite tedious in video games of late, Riven came from a time where it limited the number of documents and gave heavy context and drive through such personal remnants. Like the keeper’s diary in the original Resident Evil. Same here, and while there are quite a few notes and letters, it’s never a sheer absurd number as we see in games like Alien Isolation or one of my favourite games of all time, Amnesia: The Bunker (which goes a little heavy with the number of notes…).

I don’t want to spoil much at all as it’s a great story, and how it unfolds is quite memorable, especially with the interesting cast of characters, world-building, and having to decipher much of the lore for yourself. It’s not for everyone, and you would have to know some context of Myst to understand what is happening, but it’s not needed to have played it.

Riven is quite a charming, 90 ’90s time capsule which never felt dated or egregious considering it was originally released 27 years ago. It still holds up very well, and if you’re the type to love old-style point-and-click adventure stories like Broken Sword and the like, then Riven is a no-brainer with its smart storytelling devices and engaging and gravitas-filled narrative that sucks you right in.

And as a puzzle game, bloody brilliant, but be warned this is not a typical puzzle game, but a puzzle game that’s the focus in a 90’s story-driven adventure game. You will get lost, you will find many, many loose ends, items of interest which you have no context for, and mammoth structures filled with levers, pullies, and other contraptions that do things, many, many things and often you need to do those things in the right order multiple times.

To inform you, there have been creative adjustments to refine the puzzle-solving and solutions to be much friendlier than the original. This could mean certain puzzles aren’t as long-winded or a complete blocker such as the Fire Marble puzzle back in the original. They’re still very challenging, but in a fairer, less moon logic way than a lot of 90’s point-and-click games had us suffer through.

It's a ball-busting for your brain, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t love it. It’s a game made for a puzzle geek such as myself, and while there are long build-ups, and intense planning to piece things together in my mind and the game, when that resolution clicks into place, my brain lets off the most magnificent burst of Gamma Brain Waves imaginable.

But it is relentless in its pursuit of lateral nirvana that you could feel like Riven is a full-time job, and it somewhat is. Meaning it’s not for everyone and within the first 30 minutes you can see if it’s a game for you.


An adventure that will leave you scratching your brain, and stunned in awe


While I never played Riven when it originally came out, I did check it out later as a teen, in the late 2000s. As an old man now, I played games in which you could feel the mechanical, or graphical limitations, and even though I did enjoy the game, I could feel those limitations immensely at times with the old version of Riven. Remember, PCs, gaming, and seamless loading quality-of-life refinements and features we enjoy today were not around 30 years ago.

The remake allows Riven to be highly approachable now, with what might be minor changes that are incredibly well-thought-out and do change the nature of things. The biggest is full 3D movement, as the original game only allowed you to switch between/move from pre-rendered images guising as the world of Riven.

In the remake, you can move around in full 3D form which adds so much to the overall experience. While I loved the pre-rendered world of old, I was stunned and overwhelmed to move around, see in fantastic detail, and feel part of the Riven world. And you can play this with a VR headset, which is even better.

Riven is such a fascinating world, and being able to fully move around, and explore every nook and cranny without having to click endlessly through static images brought new breath and life to a classic. And it helps out that this remake is so darn gorgeous with breathtaking lighting effects, stunning world details, and excellent world design and building that will keep you visually engaged throughout. Although I will admit there are times when the game and general momentum feel a tad bit clunky. More on that later.

And performance-wise, while not terrible in the slightest, I did run into a few framerate drops and stutters which hindered my experience a little. I did set the graphics to a lower setting but still felt similar with the stutters and all. But with the amount of rendering, and even how jaw-dropping the water, lighting and world look overall, I’m surprised Riven didn’t melt my gaming laptop to mush.

There are other inclusions including story refinements, including the screenshot mechanic which can be a lifesaver, as making notes and figuring stuff out slowly is really what Riven strides for. For a deeper dive, there are others such as semi fast-travel system which allows you to move from island to island a bit quicker, the pacing for the beginning has been tweaked compared to the original to not feel like such a drag, and various puzzles have been refined or tweaked to include more intuitive solutions. Thus, the difficulty curve feels much smoother and more approachable.

The best comparison I could make is with the recent Tomb Raider remaster, where you can now save when you like, and have all the best bits, along with lifesaving additions to make the gaming experience much smoother and pain-free.

That does not mean the game will hold your hand, as this remake is still firm and true to the original intent and experience and leaves you to your own devices. You do not have to figure out everything for yourself without quest markers, bright highlights and item pointers guiding you along the way, or a clear objective in the top left corner of the screen informing you what to do next.

And I do love and somewhat hate this for several reasons.

I highly appreciate that you are given the world to roam and must decipher it for yourself, but then there are some shortcomings that will pose a problem for most, even hardcore lateral heads like me.

As the world is fully 3D, some clarity is lost with the remake and its presentation. The original always drew your eye to points of interest without making it glaringly obvious that there was something there you could pick up or interact with. It’s quite easy to miss a few points of interest and interactable items as they blend in too well with the scenery. Many of the levers and buttons are recognisable, usually encased in gold and sticking out like a sore thumb, then others are beige, or sandstone colour and get lost in the rest of the scene. It’s not all that bad, but for those who might need a little help with accessibility, then it would become a problem, especially as the cursor highlight or prompt can be finicky and very pixel-point at times, meaning you can easily brush over something small, yet important.

I will also state that the lack of accessibility options is disappointing, and feel the reason behind this may be that it’s seen to make the game easier. I don’t know but lacking any additional options to make it easier to see certain things, is disappointing. But what is here really does complement the gameplay without breaking the bank. However, a high contrast mode, or highlights would make Riven even more approachable for those with disabilities.


Overall?

Riven is still quite the lateral, adventure masterpiece even after 27 years, and with this remake, it’s less problematic and unrooted from its moon logic, and 90’s hardcore roots. There are still things I wish it had, like better accessibility options, more clarity for certain items and objects, and improved performance would be the main things for me. But outside of these grievances, Riven is still a stellar gaming experience that challenges every part of your mind and presents an enriching journey with wonder and mystery at every step. It’s a vastly upgraded, immensely faithful retelling of a classic, that doesn’t deviate from the gravitas-laden source material. Only to add key Quality-of-life inclusions to the core gaming experience.

If you’re a fan of the original, you’ll love it all over again, and for those looking for the ultimate brain-teasing venture of lateral nirvana, you came to the right place.  


++ Looks and sounds terrific
++ Phenomenal world design and lateral gameplay
+ Some well-deserved minor changes, which make the experience better balanced

-- Total lack of accessibility options
- Feels quite clunky and visually cluttered at times
- Performance can dip and dive



Riven for PC was kindly provided by the publisher for this review.