User Reviews (1 - 11 of 183)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

This is the Best Game of the Series! (from MYST to End of Ages)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Riven is far and away the best game of the MYST series and for that matter the best game in the first-person adventure genre. The world is very big and the graphics are substantially better than the original MYST. But the best thing is that everything is integrated with the back story and current story. There are no puzzles for the sake of puzzles to go through. Everything has a reason for being, and you get to have the joy of unlocking those reasons.

If you only get one of the games from the MYST series, then get RIVEN.

I hate that I cheated

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is by far my favorite out of the Myst series. Before I knew better, I cheated to get to the ending, looking at walkthroughs. Unfortunately, it's not like you can 'undo' that memory in your head, and I've forever ruined the game in my eyes. The two biggie puzzles in this game involve clues from the whole game you've explored up to that point. I wish I had taken the time to fully appreciate their solution and not cheat.

Riven was better than Myst.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 24, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I liked how sunny parts of it were, other parts were in the forest, when I revolved the tower, (from four locations, no less), it really made a low, rock-type noise. And I had to use the Universal Hint System to get me through, the explanation for how the Fire Marble puzzle works, is beyond me.
The sub was fun, too.

Riven: the Sequel to Myst

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I preferred Myst, but this was fun - both made you think

Enchanting

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I could never do Mysts without a walkthrough in front of me. Even then, it's not easy. I just love the landscapes and sense of loosing youself in other worlds without combat game requirements.

Warning to all: runs only on out-of-date systems.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 12
Date: June 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I can't comment on Riven itself but I can comment on the misleading marketing. I have a Mac operating Mac OS 10 on a PowerPC chip. The system requirements list only "PowerPC" as required. But in fact Riven only operates under the "Classic" environment which means Mac's running 10.2.6 or LESS. Buyer beware.

Same is true on my Dell running Windows XP --Riven only runs on older systems (e.g.,Windows 95). Again, buyer beware.

Second great installment in the Myst saga

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: May 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I tell you this, the creators of Riven sure did their homework in the four year gap between the original Myst and Riven. The graphic improved drastically, meaning whatever computer you were running the original Myst in '93/'94 (Myst first appeared on the Mac in '93, then the PC the following year) would probably not be adequate to run Riven. Certainly Myst had made even greater improvements in the graphics department since Riven, like the 360 degree panning feature for Myst III: Exile, and even more photo-realistic graphics and animation for Myst IV: Revelation, but even for 1997 standards the graphics to Riven still hold up, although it's rather obvious the graphics looks a little more pixelated during some of the animated scenes (like when you take a ride on the cable car, probably to keep the animation fast without slowing it down for the computers of the time). But for the most part, the graphics seem so realistic you almost feel like you're there. Of course the big pain is this game consisted of 5 CD-ROM discs, which you have to swap every now and then, it's too bad they didn't have an install feature where you could install all five discs on to hard drive and only need to use one disc to play the game (like the much maligned Schizm: Mysterious Journey, a game from Poland that's very much like Myst, which had five discs in the CD-ROM version, and you had the option for full install so you didn't have to keep swapping discs).

It's agreed by most everyone that Riven is more difficult to solve than the original Myst. The puzzles often don't seem obvious, and there are some puzzles that can be frustrating, like the marble puzzle, which you have to solve in order to gain access to the domes found on Riven. Or the animal puzzle, which you'll find a bunch of stones in this one room with animal symbols that you have to push in the right order to go to another world. On the original Myst, after you won it, Atrus tells you that his wife Catherine has been taken prisoner, and on Riven, you're supposed to find and free his wife, taken prisoner by Atrus' father, Gehn. Also it looks like a different guy was playing Atrus on Riven from the original Myst, in fact it was none other than Myst creator Rand Miller who plays Atrus on Riven (as well as Myst III and IV, though I hadn't played Myst V, so I can't tell you about the game or the characters), although I'm uncertain who played Atrus on the original Myst. I really love the ambient music that goes with this, not to mention the beautiful scenery found throughout.

Although a bit tricky in places, you're certain to enjoy this game if you're in to Myst.

The biggest Myst game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game actually stands up to the test of time, as opposed to Myst part one's antiquated technology, and ancient graphics...Unfortunately, I never got to play these games when they came first came out, and being spoiled with all the improvements in the visual department over the years, had to start with Riven instead of Myst. The game is probally the largest and most meticulous effort of all 5 games, simply for being a little larger and a little more designed then many of the future under-developed, but beautiful lands Myst would take us to..Obviously this game is for a certain type of "quiet" gamer, who prefers exploration and figuring out how to work a puzzle out over visceral, button mashing action..If those attributes do intriuge you as a gamer however, there is no better place and example to start with then the legendary Myst series..

Fun game, but sometimes boring

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 7
Date: April 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Most of Riven is pretty interesting, but not all of it. Some parts I find boring. They could improve the graphics a bit and mabye put better music in. There are only some songs I like. Most of the songs sound the same. There is no point to those songs.

Enjoyable, frustrating

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I told myself I was NOT going to use any hints to solve Riven. Actually I got through most of the game without hints. But then I got frustrated and finally gave in and got help. Riven is perhaps the most difficult of the Myst series. The one critical puzzle involving coded locks was so difficult that after finding the solution online, and realizing I had been on the right track towards the solution, still there was no way I would have cracked the full code, even though I had deciphered some of the code on my own. As with other Myst games, there was also one important area that I didn't find on my own, because I didn't click around enough (a small and non-obvious hot spot). There are fewer ages in Riven than in the other Myst games, and about 95% of the game consists of finding your way around the islands that make up the first age. In that respect it is a different game experience than the others. The prerendered point-and-click interface is much like the original Myst.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions