What is Riven: The Sequel to Myst?

Reenter the world first discovered in Rand and Ryan Miller's facinating world of Myst. This time, journey to a new Age of Riven and help Atrus search for his missing wife Catherine. Along the way you'll solve complex puzzles that span the entire world, each crafted and created with stunning visual effects.

Riven delivers everything Myst had to offer and so much more as well.

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The bearish, bearded man scratches his pen across the page of the thick book. He stops and looks up, squinting to see in the dark room. “Thank God you’ve returned,” he says. “I need your help.”

If this opening scene from Riven gives you a chill of anticipation, surely you’ve played Myst, the CD-ROM adventure that became the best-selling computer game of all time. It has been a four-year wait for Myst’s sequel (cleverly subtitled “The Sequel to Myst”), and, if you liked Myst, you’ll hardly need our recommendation, but here it is: Buy Riven. This is a rich, atmospheric follow-up.

Riven is an evolutionary, not revolutionary, step beyond Myst. Riven, the Fifth Age, rises out of the same haunting music and similar immersing sounds and sights as Myst. But this time the sights are much more spectacular and realistic, the sounds more subtle and sublime, and the puzzles more diabolically difficult. There are other differences as well.

This time, your mission is laid out at the start: You must trap Atrus’ father, Gehn, in a linking book and save Catherine before you can leave Riven. There’s lots more animation than in Myst, allowing you to finally interact with Atrus and his odd relatives. And this time, when you make mistakes, you can die.

If you never played Myst, even if you’ve never played another computer game, you’re in for a real treat. Riven, like its predecessor, is unlike any other game. After a sketchy introduction by the bearded Atrus, you’re dropped into a lavishly detailed, mythical world, free to roam and explore. Follow trails through lush jungles, navigate dark tunnels through mountains, wander along beaches, and explore a primitive village of extremely shy — or terrified — people. Traveling among the islands that make up Riven, you will spend much of your time trying to understand the mysterious, steam-powered contraptions. The game has no time limit, you’ll almost never collect objects or tools, and you’ll never hold or use a weapon. In fact, at the outset, you won’t even have a clear idea of exactly what you’re looking for or are expected to do in order to achieve your goal. You’ll spend your first hours trying to understand this world — how to navigate it, who populates it, and what’s going on.

Mastering Riven is fiendishly difficult. Even experienced gamers will likely need at least 20 hours to finish the game, and most folks will probably take twice as long. My advice is to play with at least two people. Even a 6-year-old helper discovered significant clues we had overlooked. And, speaking of 6-year-olds, the game’s content is appropriate for even young children (although the puzzles often are much too difficult).

Riven stands out in nearly every respect, not only from its predecessor Myst, but also from such similar fine games as Obsidian and Amber: Journeys Beyond. Visually and aurally, it sets new standards. The graphics are always grand and occasionally breathtaking. There’s lots of QuickTime animation, which isn’t just peppered between static graphics. Riven’s forests, for example, are alive with flying, winking insects and buzzing beetles. Birds casually wheel and call in the sky. The water shimmers. The effect is so dazzling we could feel the sun’s heat on the back of our necks and the breeze blowing through our hair.

Riven also plays like no other game, not even Myst. Although it consists of numerous puzzles, there’s no mad magician arbitrarily throwing a board game in your way before you can unlock a door. Riven’s puzzles are so deeply integrated into the “plot,” they never feel contrived or artificial. The illusion of exploring a real, if surrealistic, world remains intact until the end.

Unfortunately, movement through this world remains primitive. Turning to the left or right reveals the seams: The beautiful vistas slide from one to the next, like a slide show. Your progress forward is indicated by dissolves between images. If you’ve played Doom, Quake, Marathon, or the others, you’ll be thrilled by Riven’s graphics but not by any realistic 3D movement. And all this multimedia takes considerable computing power. Even on a Power Mac 8500/150 with its 8X CD-ROM player, there were noticeable lags in the animation. And did we mention that Riven comes on five CDs? Switching among discs often breaks the mood.

That said, the game is fantastic. Turn off the lights. Hook up your best stereo speakers or dust off your headphones. Set aside a few hours and take the phone off the hook. Take a deep breath and click Play Riven.

Holmes, Joseph O. (February 1998). Riven: The Sequel to Myst. MacAddict. (pgs. 52-53).

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Architecture

OSX Universal Binary

System Requirements

From Mac OS 7.5 up to Mac OS 10.13

Compatibility notes

Emulating this? It could probably run under: SheepShaver