When the original Riven was released in 1997, it was pretty groundbreaking. Yes, we had all played Cyan’s other puzzle title, Myst, at that point, so the concept of a dedicated puzzle game was not exactly new. But Riven really leaned into the success of Myst to create a true adventure where there was a fascinating world to explore, mysteries to unravel, people to save and, of course, lots and lots of puzzles of all shapes, sizes and complexities.
Puzzles are central to Riven, and they’re the reason why most people who love it play and replay it. But unlike Myst where you were kind of walking from one puzzle to the next in a fairly compact area, with Riven there was an entire world to explore where puzzles just happened to be everywhere. And it didn’t hurt that the world was extraordinary, with some of the most stunning computer graphics that PCs could produce at the time, including some brilliant slides of landscapes that you would click through combined with full-motion video segments with actors giving great performances. The title even pushed what computers could do. Riven’s original physical copy came on five CD-ROMs, and almost every time you boarded one of those metal roller-coaster-like vehicles to head to a new island, you had to switch the disks.
Riven did some other interesting things in terms of gameplay that sometimes gets overshadowed by its outstanding puzzles. It was one of the only games at the time where you could play it at your own pace and speed, never having to worry about arbitrary timers or losing out on something because you were busy exploring the islands or any of the unique environments that were attached to them. If you wanted to explore for a while without any hardcore puzzle solving, you could do that without penalty. Plus, you were never in any danger, which was also kind of unique for a video game at the time.
Riven was remade once before, in 2010, to update the graphics for modern computers at the time. That version was more or less a direct port made to run on modern computers and operating systems where not much from the core game changed. Today’s 2024 remake instead transforms several aspects of Riven to bring it in line with modern technology, in addition to upgrading the graphics all the way up to 4K resolution.
It’s a true 3D world now where you can walk around the landscapes (holding Shift to run faster as you do) and go pretty much wherever you please, so long as you stick to the valid paths. Riven won’t let you run off a cliff, even though it feels like you could almost do that now. In breaking away from the photorealistic, pre-rendered slides from before, for the first time it almost feels like you are exploring a real place. It also supports virtual reality which, although we didn’t review that aspect, would probably make for an incredible experience.
In the 2024 remake of Riven, the FMV segments with live actors are gone now, replaced by computer-generated likenesses. I have mixed feelings on that because the new computer-generated people seem kind of soulless compared with the actors in those segments from before. It’s kind of ironic because in the original Riven, the people moved and seemed realistic while the world was basically a set of static pictures. Now, the world in the remake version looks extremely real, but the computer people seem almost fake (and made from last-generation technology too) by comparison.
Now, most people are going to play Riven (and Myst) because they like puzzles. If you don’t enjoy puzzles, Riven will most likely not be for you. Some of the puzzles in Riven are quite epic, but the entire world is filled with both larger and smaller ones. There are easier puzzles like turning on the steam power in one room so that you can activate equipment elsewhere in the environment, or one that’s removing a hinge so that you can open up a locked door. Then there are medium level puzzles like the first spinning room you come across where you have to figure out how to rotate it so that you can progress down the correct passages as well as open up the grates that further block your progress. And finally, there are the extremely challenging, core puzzles that are famous now (like the Moiety stones or the fire marble dome) where you will be really challenged.
In the 2024 remake, some of those puzzles, both large and small, have been redone or changed to some extent. While this might seem like sacrilege to old-school players, I didn’t really mind too much as it kind of made it so that I was exploring the island again for the first time, at least in parts. There is also some new content too that was thrown into the mix that veteran players might be a little bit surprised to find. You can also take screenshots at any point and then look at them in your journal now, which is a very handy tool that can help solve puzzles when the information and hints about them are scattered in multiple places.
Before my amazing friend Greg Crowe, who was also GiN’s chief puzzle gamer who solved the original Riven in under four hours, passed away a few years ago, he used to always say that titles like Myst and Riven set the standards for the genre. He said this was because they rewarded and challenged players three times for every single puzzle. First, there is the reward when a player realizes that they are looking at a puzzle, something that is not always so obvious in Riven. Then there is the challenge and reward as a player learns the rules of the puzzle, which is probably the most difficult part of Riven’s most grand challenges. And finally, you get the satisfaction when, after all that, a player finally solves the puzzle.
Riven effortlessly did that back in 1997, and despite the changes and additions in the 2024 version, it still does all of that extremely well. Greg would have loved the Riven remake, and it saddens me to think that he passed before I could see the joy on his face as he experienced it. But if you are a true puzzle adventurer like Greg, then I am confident that Riven 2024 will meet your high expectations.
The soundtrack for Riven has also been redone and sounds great. Traversing from one area to another often triggers a new tune, and they all sound amazing and help to set the mood. Even within a single place like the Jungle Island, walking down a surface path compared with heading down into a subterranean area will let you experience different soundtracks that become as much a part of the landscape as the scenery.
If Riven was not so challenging, I could almost recommend the 2024 remake for anyone. But the truth is that Riven has always been challenging, and that kind of gameplay does not appeal to everyone. But if you have even the slightest interest in puzzle solving and challenging your brain in that way, then you won’t find a better environment to do that than the one Riven 2024 offers. It’s one of the best puzzle adventures ever created, now given a modern look that is just as breathtaking today as the original was back in 1997.