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Genre: Adventure Developer & Publisher: Cyan Released: June 25,2024 Requirements: OS: Windows 10 or 11 Processor: Minimum, Intel Core i5 7000 Series/AMD Ryzen 7 2700X; Recommended, Intel Core i7 11000 Series/AMD Ryzen 7 3800X Memory: Minimum 16 GB RAM; Recommended, 32 GB RAM Graphics: Minimum, Nvidia GTX 1070 6 GB/AMD RX 5500XT 6 GB; Recommended, Nvidia GTX 1080Ti 11 GB, AMD RX 6800XT DirectX: Version 12 Storage: 30 GB available space
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By flotsam Riven Cyan In a galaxy far far away, Riven cemented my obsession with adventure games. It isn’t solely responsible for the nearly 1100 boxed games on my shelves, a physical manifestation of the extent of my adventure gaming fixation, but it deserves to be held accountable. The exploratory wonder that was Temple Island watered the seeds and the first maglev ride sealed the deal. Riven is one of the few adventure games that I have played more than once, by which I generally mean twice, and the original impetus was almost as much the desire to utilise the DVD version and avoid disc swapping when it came to the rides as it was the pull of the game itself. Whatever the initial motivation, it remains in my top list of adventure games and I couldn’t wait to play this current version. I couldn’t have been more pleased. If you have played it before, it is at its core the same game, except when it isn’t. The most obvious difference is the change from point to point exploration to free roaming through the environment. It’s a go anywhere, look all around, far more immersive experience, and well suits the first person nature of things. Another nearly as obvious difference is that the live-action FMV character sequences have given way to CGI modelling. You will come across it immediately, in the opening scene where Atrus seeks your help. However impressive the current modelling might be, for me it was the one disappointment in the game. At this point its worth mentioning that I have always liked the opening sequences, not just in and of themselves but as a sort of microcosm of what is to come. They are dense, and confusing, and cryptic and intriguing all at the same time. A bespectacled man I don’t know tells me he is pleased I have returned and there is a lot of stuff I need to know but there isn’t time to tell me, and then he says something about a trip with no immediate way back and a one person prison. He gives me a book, I then travel somewhere and find myself trapped, before some more not good stuff happens and I am eventually free to wonder and wander and try to sort things out. Very cool 😊 This is a game where not having a clue is the way of things and hastening slowly is the modus operandi. Push things, poke things, play with things over and over; it may well not be obvious at first but the more you do those things the more likely the ‘a-ha’ moment will occur. You will go back and forth and observe cause and effect, and learn things (literally and numerically) here that will help you there. You will take notes and draw pictures and go back over it all to help you make sense. Also very cool 😊 If you do hasten slowly, and do all those other things, in my opinion the game will reward your efforts. It isn’t easy, but nor is it illogical or opaque. Things you can do are important, and how they matter is discernible. Just breathe, pause, and ponder a bit more. Riven is an impressive place to both explore and to linger. It was always rather gorgeous but its definitely now more ‘real’ than its predecessor, so take the time to drink in the scenery. The fact that you can pretty much go anywhere also enables you to ramble about and explore the bits and pieces that you could see before but never get to. And some new bits add another layer you can find for yourself. Ambient sound plays a large part in the realism as well, and is given prominence over the musical accompaniment. The latter is well used, but takes a backseat to the natural sounds of the world. I much prefer a minimalist soundtrack, and for me the balance here worked extremely well. Headphones further helped to wrap me in the auditory palette. Some Googling indicates that there are new solves and additional puzzles. I am not familiar enough with the original to tell you anymore about that. What I can say is that the tactile nature of many of the puzzles is exactly as I remember them. An excellent addition is the ability to take a screenshot whenever you want and then annotate it in your notebook. You can achieve much the same thing manually with pen and paper, but I found I relied on this element more and more as I went along. It was convenient, and captured exactly what I was looking at. Some things though don’t change. The curser is the same as it always has been, the little pointing finger and grasping hand both welcome reminders of the heritage. Unless that is, you change that in the menu where there are quite a few things you can tweak. It includes the option to e.g., turn off vehicle transitions if that sort of movement might make you ‘seasick.’ I didn’t indulge, but clearly Cyan has thought about what might matter to a full range of players. What else? Save at will, and the WASD moves you around (the W is really all you will use). The mouse steers you about and looks around, left click to interact, right click to release. The keyboard is used to e.g., run or take a screenshot. It works well and will be familiar to many players from other games. If you have never played Riven, do yourself a favour and play this. If you have played Riven, ditto. It’s a classic for good reason and this version not only does it enormous credit, but should ensure it will remain so for many more years to come. I played on: OS: Windows 10, 64 Bit Processor: Intel i7-9700K 3.7GHz RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR4 32GB Video card: AMD Radeon RX 580 8192MB
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