Riven Preview - Everything Old is New Again

It’s been a solid 27 years since the release of Riven, the adventure follow-up to the much-acclaimed Myst. Like Myst, Riven is about to see a remake of its own, bringing the original up to scratch using the current generation graphics technology of Unreal Engine 5.

It’s not an easy task – the original Riven has a lot of history behind it, and as such, expectations need to be set properly in place. Riven is important to its developer, Cyan, who had used the resources Myst provided to really tell a story. To them, they wanted Riven to feel like Lord of the Rings to Myst’s Hobbit.

After watching the technology change over the years, and their ability as a company, Cyan felt the time was right to do a revisit to Riven justice.

The goal was simply this: let’s make a 3D version of the original Riven without messing with anything. But then, the team started questioning things and realizing they could change things to make them more coherent. Thus, the changes made had to make sense. It was a meticulous process, but not one done from a corporate standpoint. This was done for the fans.

With Unreal Engine 5 at their fingertips, Cyan was afforded a lot of freedom. Whilst the game is 3D, there is an optional 2D and VR mode, with mobile VR also supported throughout.

We had a chance to attend a preview presentation showing off a little bit of the game, as well as take our own turn exploring for ourselves with a special demo build ahead of Riven’s just-announced release date of June 25.

The demo begins with a cutscene, and you, the player character of sorts, are given a mysterious book. This book seems to be important for some reason or another, so it’s best to pay attention. Paying attention is a key aspect of Riven after all.

It’s important to note that things aren’t exactly the same as the original Riven, so for those old fans, rest assured that things have been added for good reason. Expect little details from the start, such as items on the desk in the opening scene. These details are meant for continuity and story reasons prevalent throughout Riven.

This was done so that old players can hopefully get a clue that this isn’t just the same game – it’s a chance to look at it with fresh eyes.

As the demo continues, you’re thrown in jail immediately, and a man speaks to you in an unknown language. He takes the book you were given and seems excited about it, but his joy is short-lived as he falls and drops the book. Another person appears and sets you free, but not without taking the book with them.

At the jump, with free roaming now available, it’s important for original players to avoid assuming this is the same Riven. Details from the original may have changed and little things like this are part of the enhanced narrative.

Specifically, a lot of effort went into delineating the different areas while still maintaining the visual feeling of the original Riven. So, while there are those changes, the main essence is the same.

For example, you can look through portals and see a bit more than what you could before, and areas with a window to the outside are visible from the exterior.

Exploring around the cliff face in the demo, we eventually come upon a golden room, and outside of it, there is a button you can press to sort of spin it around to open up other places. The room itself has a reason for being there, and the main challenge is figuring out how to use the room to advance through the game.

There’s a lot more attention to detail throughout this remake, as is the essence of Riven. You can find little daggers, for example, that might suggest some rebels are trying to draw your attention to something. Maybe they’ll help you get around a locked door – it’s important to examine everything you can.

On the presentation side of things, there are a lot of sounds and performances that carried over from the original Riven, including some of the original voice actors. The level crafted in Unreal Engine 5 is beautiful, and the modeling of the rockery and textures are detailed throughout.

It’s these details that allow you to be more observant, which can certainly help when things don’t go the way you expect them to. Be sure to pay attention to what you interact with as the ability to look around in real time is encouraged. It's also noteworthy to express just how relaxing moving around the world of Riven feels to be. You can spend a lot of time just taking in the details, or taking out your journal and reading some of the entries found within. It seems like there will be a lot more to uncover on the narrative side of things in the full release.

While we’re not able to check out the VR capabilities for Riven, the team at Cyan has told us that there will be comfort settings available including a snap camera, teleporting to different areas, smaller windows in some enclosed areas, and even environment settings.

The default settings should be comfortable, and there are further accessibility settings overall for things like colorblindness, and a lot of other considerations the team tried to address.

Riven will be available for PC, Mac, and Meta Quest 2 and 3. Additional platforms will be forthcoming, but Cyan wasn’t able to say what those are quite yet. The playable demo featured in this preview will be available during the Steam Next Fest this month.

TechRaptor was invited to preview Riven at a digital event by the publisher.