Check out our review of the 2024 remake of Riven to find out what we thought about this surreal and mysterious puzzle adventure.
Riven is a remake of the 1997 game also called Riven (although it used to have the helpful subtitle “The Sequel to Myst”). Compare screenshots for the two games though, and you’d be forgiven for thinking this is simply a modern re-release of the original. This misunderstanding would be entirely because the remake is so dedicated to preserving the original’s surreal aesthetic.
The original Riven used pre-rendered graphics and had you exploring them in an almost slide-show style, something you might be used to thanks to Google Street View. This one, however, renders all its graphics in real-time and lets you freely explore the strange world that was originally envisioned in the 1990s.
Riven’s laser focus on environmental puzzles might leave you a little parched for context and story. The game begins with you abruptly portalling through a book, and everything else you might need to know is hidden away in the many, many pages of a handwritten journal you carry in your satchel. Tidy! Especially so when you’re stuck in the game, which is bound to happen a lot here.
The game’s real meat is its puzzles and these require observation, inference, and even a real-life notebook of your own. You’ll have to pay attention to small objects in vast worlds, remember symbols, and even learn two(!) numerical systems.
With several puzzles being randomized each time to play, you also can’t completely rely on a walkthrough to take you sailing through to the credits. No wonder the game includes an in-game screenshotting feature. Riven is very adamant about making sure you at least understand how its puzzles work.
Riven’s obtuse and cerebral puzzles may have been all the rage in the 1990s, the golden era of obtuse adventure games, but in 2024, I feel like they’ll only appeal to a niche audience that I am not a part of.
The game’s utter disregard for hints and pointers makes it one where you’re expected to solve puzzles even when you’re not playing the game. This is the sort of the game you think about on a commute before you make a connection in your mind and discover a new way to look at a puzzle that had you stumped.
If that doesn’t sound great to you, then Riven is probably going to be a miss for you as it has been for me.
But the atmosphere! Riven looks and feels like nothing else out there. Its distinctly surreal style ensures that it owes nothing to anything that’s come before it. Narrow stairs cut into rock, railroaded submarines, and an abundance of analog buttons and switches make the world of Riven feel simultaneously real and unreal. It’s a synthesis that left me spellbound, curious, and even nostalgic for my 90s childhood in some strange way.
It is perhaps impossible to review or indeed, play Riven (2024) in a vacuum. This would be true for most remakes, but Riven is a very different kind of remake in how loyal it remains to the original game – both in visuals and puzzles. For that reason, it’s a safe bet to say that if you are the sort of puzzle fan to like the original game, you will love this remake as well. If not, then it’s best you give this one a skip before you bash your head against a wall.
Developer: Cyan Worlds
Country of Origin: United States
Publisher: Cyan Worlds
Release Date: June 25, 2024 (PC, Meta Quest)
This review is based on a copy of the game provided by the developer. The non-VR PC version of Riven was played for this review.
Thank you for reading our review of Riven. Be sure to check out our preview of the game too!
Playing the game already? Check out our walkthrough of the game!
For more interesting articles about indie games, be sure to check out the links below.
- Into Indie Games Homepage
- Magical Delicacy – An Interview with Skaule
- Conscript Walkthrough – Chapter 1
- Best Indie Adventure Games of 2024
- Indika Review
