Riven 2024 Remake Game Review

[@Peeps7468]

Great video. Thanks!! I got the original in 1998. The computer wasn’t quite good enough to keep up with some of the videos, but I still adored that game

[@mistersurrealist]

The environments look absolutely amazing but boy those stiff and ugly 3D characters kinda ruin the immersion. Myst NEEDS real actors, that's one of the aspects of the original games that sold you on the idea of those worlds being real. I adore the originals and certainly appreciate the remakes, but I'd be happier if they went back into the studio and reshot those scenes with real actors and integrated that footage into the game. It IS possible, just lock the player in place whenever an actor is on screen.

[@anti-ethniccleansing465]

And I agree with you 100%! Those new CGI characters are hideous! I can’t believe they took out the charm of real actors… That is just the worst decision they could’ve ever made in my opinion. Don’t they realize that one of the biggest selling points back in the day was people seeing real people in their video games?!

[@mrsamtheman80]

Well, except Gehn is dead (the actor who played Gehn died at age 97 in 2022)

[@tegannorthwood1891]

I’d be happy if they just insert the actual video scenes from the original game! (and screw VR!) or at least have the option to get a version with that!

[@TNJX]

Dude you have no idea how much players were savouring and relishing every second of that long cutscene with Gehn in 1997. The player is desperate for information and you finally get some, it's not boring at all :)

[@michaelweare9839]

Thanks Bruce...takes me back to the 90s. I've still got the original boxed version of these somewhere stashed away.

[@stew.c]

Wow, this looks nuts! I’ve only ever played the original Myst, think I need to get this one!!!

[@tegannorthwood1891]

I’ve played all of them I think and it’s still the best. There’ll never be another like it.

[@AussieBloke6502]

Your observation right at the end ... no toilet in Katherine's prison cell ... I remember thinking the same thing about Myst, when visiting the sons' rooms. Just beds and some furniture, no bathrooms, wardrobes, closets or food prep areas at all? Although they'd supposedly lived in these places for weeks or months at a time, it was clearly impossible, so they were really just suggestive rather than literal living spaces; building out all that other stuff would not have affected the gameplay (although, they could have been used to show more about the men's characters and activities).

[@BranchusCreations]

I just assumed Sirrus and Achenar had a linking book to "Bathroom Island".

[@jaysgood10]

Have you seen Batman or Superman have to pee?

[@AussieBloke6502]

@@BranchusCreations That is hilarious and simultaneously an amazing idea, I want one of those.

[@logprb5048]

This is explained in lore, basically Cyan and the Miller brothers actually exist in the lore as present day historians researching the D'ni, and the games Myst and Riven canonically exist in-universe as games made by those fictional versions of the Millers. As such any of the locations or events you see in the games are merely artistic representations of the "real" places and events from history. So Myst not having a bathroom is fine because the "real" Myst island actually had one, it just wasn't put in the game because of artistic license or for simplicity by the "historians" (developers) who made the game.

[@Sonickid1011]

There is a bucket in her prison. I don't think Ghen cares much for Katherins comfort.

[@elsa_g]

Thanks for your thorough review!

[@shaynewhite1]

Intel-Mac users have a workaround - the game works in Windows using Boot Camp. One sort of "continuity-error" is that when Catherine escapes from Prison Island and you go back into the Starry Expanse afterward, the central platform is still aligned to Prison Island. There's no way that would be possible - most likely it would be aligned with Jungle Island.

[@tegannorthwood1891]

does boot camp really work? I’m on an intel macbook pro (2015)…I’ve used Crossover before to play Cyan games on Steam but with great difficulty. Edit: right, you have to partition your hard-drive - great if you’ve got masses of gigs available - not me 😕

[@canuckchuck8836]

I loved the original Myst! I cannot wait to get my hooks into the remake of Riven.

[@BenC20B]

Nice comprehensive review. Will have to check it out.

[@musicjunk8266]

Do you know why the bridge (6:05) can go be raised using the lever (5:28)? It starts off in the down position so I do not understand the purpose for this functionality.

[@BranchusCreations]

I haven't found a functional reason other than giving the user a red herring.

[@musicjunk8266]

@@BranchusCreations Strange. But thanks.

[@theviewerofart]

Lore-wise, the part of Temple Island on the non-temple side of that bridge is off-limits except for Gehn's followers. Presumably it's supposed to suggest that the bridge is raised under normal circumstances to bar entry to Rivenese trespassers! I imagine the Moiety lowered the bridge.

[@Sharkspartan6548]

I cant wait for the console release. I have the original on PS1 and its my favourite P&C game

[@IrdinSilverbow]

Does it work on a MacBook Pro M1 using the laptop’s trackpad or is a mouse required?

[@BranchusCreations]

I haven't tried, but I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work with a trackpad.

[@IrdinSilverbow]

Thank you

[@adamrandell3610]

Im pretty sure that 'Retirn to Zork' launched these style of gsmes not Myst...

[@charlesajones77]

There really needs to be a quicker way to access screenshots. You can take pictures with one button, but to look at the pictures you have to exit out of whatever you're doing, pull up the menu and select "notebook". You'll either be doing this a LOT or be writing stuff down by hand.

[@tegannorthwood1891]

well that’s what we used to do when the game originally came out…! write things down by hand

[@Quicksilveraus]

Windows users can run this on min spec on 10/11 16 gb ram 780ti / 980 (ti variant), 1080 , 2060 ,30xx , 40xx range easy, boot-camp ftw :)

[@Atrain204]

Too bad about the actor who played Ghen. I think the only person who could play Ghen now is Charles Dance.

[@0v_x0]

Really could have done without so many spoilers, was watching this as I download the game

[@0v_x0]

Stopped watching after the third or fourth big spoiler, sorry

[@dizzer182]

Pretty sure Brad Dourif is way more well known for playing the part of Charles Lee Ray/Chucky in the Child's play Movies and TV Show.

[@BranchusCreations]

@@dizzer182 I figured most viewers would be too young to remember Child's Play. That movie's 36 years old.

[@sativares]

This needs attention and concentration, it's not for TikTok users.

[@mitcherny6965]

for VR eyes ONLY...

[@jamessutton2932]

No toilet? Surely you mean, no D'ni?? ;o)

[@BranchusCreations]

😂

[@thepostapocalyptictrio4762]

Keep hitting the space bar expecting to jump🤣 darn it! This is Riven, not Skyrim

[@BranchusCreations]

😂

[@theaustralianconundrum]

Oh please no................ The agony of Myst and Riven being ALL THERE was for Apple Macintosh computers was SO depressing. My PC friends just laughed at me for such a long time.. What choices they had just blew me away!

[@darkwinter7395]

Marathon? Spectere? Solarian II?

[@BranchusCreations]

There were heaps of games available. The Macintosh Garden is testimony to that.

[@theaustralianconundrum]

@@BranchusCreations Nothing like PC land. That said my recent descent back to Mac OS 8 & 9 iterations on a 9500/200 revealed just how unstable the OS was. That said, I have NOT had a single crash or freeze in any version of Mac OS X in at least the past ten years. Cheers.

[@tokyo_taxi7835]

They should have just cast new actors for the 2024 version. The CGI characters are so disappointing compared to the rest of the care put into the game.

[@tegannorthwood1891]

I would hate that. I’m so wedded to the original Catherine and Gehn as part of the game. Too many people who loved the first game would find that unacceptable.

[@hannahclarke872]

What is Dave Grohl doing in Riven?

[@Daud76]

Having looked at the remake, it is beautiful and I love the fact that everything in glorious 3D, can be explored from all angles and they have added more content. But sadly, the characters just seem too robotic and plastic looking. I think I will stick to the original. 😊

[@WallySketch]

This remake is very disappointing. It's so sad that they replaced reals actors with mediocre 3d models and changed the riddles for the worse. The 3D environments are good, but the lighting feels like a videogame while the lightning in the original felt like a movie. Also, you really can't compare the maglevs (7:14) and not see how the original was way better, they removed all the shakiness and sharp turns. The 2024 version is soulless and so far behind the original.

[@mmo4754]

I think making clues invisible so that you have to look through a lens to see them is cheap and lazy

[@swede7581]

question?? MAC? why and for what does the mac usually be used for? Everybody i seen so far use a pc so why a MAC?? just dont understand why someone would use it? Is it abit like commodore vs Atari when u look back many many years in history? so why what n for what n when used a mac vs pc and if better for anything its hmm u understand i hope? Thanks 4 this video(i didnt play for well over 25years n covid came n kind of went away again but my start w gaming again in 2022 is still a great fun)But ps1 vs pc 2024 is a huge leap in graphics

[@tegannorthwood1891]

A lot of creatives (like myself) only use Mac/Apple. Graphics and music

[@BranchusCreations]

Computers are just tools, and you use the tools that allow you to be most productive. Macs are very well suited to my line of work. FYI, the abbreviation for Macintosh is "Mac". In computing, "MAC" is an acronym for Medium Access Control.

[@Otisdub]

1. The best graphics card in the world was made by apple and is built in to expensive macs 2. There's a better chance that Windows computers get corrupted 3. There are more programs and better music programs on mac 4. No one uses microsoft store but all mac users use app store 5. Riven was made for the mac (in 2024 AND 1997) but it still supports windows