Riven (2024) [Review]
Riven is still magical in 2024, and the remake is the best way to play.
Riven. Credit: Cyan Worlds
Myst kicked off the CD-ROM game phenomenon in 1993. I was almost 11 when it came out and loved it, so naturally I was excited when I heard there would be a sequel. I played Riven on my Mac in 1997, after convincing my parents to buy it on launch day. I was obsessed with the game, immersed in it far more deeply than I was in Myst, and was immensely proud when I finished Riven without help—something I wasn’t able to achieve with the prequel. While I loved Myst, Riven holds a more special place in my memory and my heart. I never played the Myst remake. I was definitely going to play the new version of Riven.
I hadn’t played Riven since 1999 or 2000, so many specifics were a bit hazy in my memory. I know that in the remake many details changed, some visual, some in the puzzles. It didn’t make a difference to me when I played; if anything the puzzles were more streamlined. What mattered was the feeling, and the remake nails it. Riven 2024 is as good if not better than the original release.
Riven. Credit: Cyan Worlds
I was a little apprehensive at first. When I saw Atrus (still played by Rand Miller), I wasn’t too keen on the 3D characters. Then, after the opening encounter, when I was able to move about freely, I was immediately sold on this remake. Riven 2024 is gorgeous and as soon as I took my first steps in the Fifth Age I felt the same magic that I did in 1997.
Walking and looking around use familiar first person shooter style controls. Click the mouse or use your controller trigger, and a hand icon appears that indicates where you’re touching or grabbing in the world. While you’ve got total freedom of movement, the game helpfully locks you into a fixed angle when you interact with certain machinery, so you can use a pointer to push buttons, pull handles, rotate valves, etc. The result of no longer working like a complex Powerpoint presentation, coupled with the fact that the game looks as good if not better than its prerendered version, is an engrossing experience with less barriers to total immersion. I haven’t played the VR version, but I imagine it’s even better.
Riven. Credit: Cyan Worlds
I loved the tactile nature of the machinery in the original game and its satisfyingly heavy mechanical sound design. The sound design is improved, as is the game’s ambient sound. It was great to play the game with headphones on.
I played Riven on both my Mac and my Steam Deck. It performed decently on the Steam Deck, as long as I was willing to compromise on the graphics settings. I settled on playing at around 30-40fps so that the visual fidelity would be a bit better. The game’s AMD FSR support helped immensely. On my Mac Studio M1 Ultra, I didn’t have to compromise.
Riven. Credit: Cyan Worlds
There are few downsides to the remake for me. I found the game’s new fast travel mechanism a little bit clunky, even though I got used to it and was able to use it more quickly in the end. It just takes more steps than I would like to use. I felt that once the paths were open, I shouldn’t have had to take so many steps to use the paths again later. Other than that, after finishing the game, I think I still like the live action character cutscenes more than the new real-time 3D versions. I do appreciate that the audio from John Keston’s original performance as villain Gehn was used.
If you’re going to play Riven today, play this remake, now the definitive version. I’d recommend playing Myst first to get a better introduction to the game’s world and Atrus’ family drama that continues into its sequel. I hope we get new versions of the rest of the sequels.
Riven is available now for PC and Mac via Steam.
Overall Score: 9/10
Played on: Steam Deck, Mac
