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Riven is the sequel to the highly successful computer game Myst. Directed by Robyn Miller and Richard Vander Wende and produced by Rand Miller, Riven was distributed initially on five compact discs and was released on October 29, 1997 in the US; the game was later released on a single DVD-ROM with a 14 minute making-of video and higher quality graphics. In addition to the PC versions, Riven was ported to several other platforms, including the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Like the original Myst, players navigate the world by clicking on portions of prerendered still screens; Riven also makes use of live footage of actions placed in Riven's static backgrounds.

Riven takes place immediately after the events of Myst. Having been rescued from the machinations of his sons, Atrus enlists the help of the Stranger to free his wife from Atrus' power-hungry father, Gehn. Unlike Myst, in which the game took place on several different worlds known as Ages, linked together by special books, Riven almost exclusively takes place on the eponymous Age of Riven, an inhabited world slowly falling apart due to Gehn's rule.

Riven was critically praised upon release and highly successful; a critic for Salon said the game approached the level of art, and other critics positively noted the puzzles and immersive experience of the gameplay. Other publications such as magazine Edge felt that the nature of point-and-click gameplay limited the title heavily. The title was the best-selling game of 1997, and within a year sold 1.5 million copies; Riven and Myst would eventually sell in excess of ten million copies.

After the game's release, the Miller brothers drifted apart, with Robyn Miller forming his own development studio while older brother Rand stayed at Cyan and continued to work on Myst-related products, including the novel Myst: The Book of D'ni. Richard Wende would also leave Cyan to pursue other projects. The next video game in the Myst series, Myst III: Exile, would be developed by Presto Studios and published by Ubisoft.

Gameplay

Like its predecessor, Riven is a point-and-click adventure game taking place in a first-person perspective. Players explore interactive environments using the mouse to click on items shown on the screen. Players can interact with objects such as switches or items in this manner. The cursor changes in appearance depending on what a player is pointing at. For example, when the player positions the cursor near the edge of the screen, the pointer changes from the shape of a pointing hand to a bent finger; likewise, the cursor changes when the player can look up or manipulate an object.

As in Myst, Riven has an optional method of moving known as "Zip Mode". This allows players to skip to areas already explored, but can lead to players missing important clues. Whereas in Myst the objective of the game is to travel to different worlds known as Ages and solve puzzles there before returning to a hub Age, Riven's gameplay takes place on the five islands of the titular Age of Riven. Much of the gameplay consists of solving puzzles in order to access new areas of the islands.

Plot

Although Riven is the sequel to Myst, it also ties up loose ends in the companion novel Myst: The Book of Atrus. The player once again assumes the role of the Stranger, a friend of Atrus. Atrus is the creator of many books which serve as portals to other worlds; the ability to write these books is known as the "Art". Atrus needs the Stranger's help, as his wife Catherine is trapped on the slowly collapsing Age of Riven, written by his unhinged father Gehn. Atrus and Catherine had previously trapped Gehn on Riven by removing all linking books from that age; the very last book to be removed, linking to the island of Myst, was the one Atrus held as he used to escape Riven. Atrus hoped the book would fall into the star fissure, a void leading out of the reality of the damaged Age of Riven and into unknown space; the book ends up falling to Earth to be found by the Stranger, sparking the events of Myst. Catherine, however, was subsequently tricked into returning to Riven by Atrus' sons and was captured by Gehn and held hostage.

Atrus equips the Stranger with a Trap Book, a book that appears to be a linking book but is actually a one man prison, and his personal diary by way of explaining the history of events leading to the present situation. Atrus cannot explain in depth, as he is engaged in rewriting the descriptive book of Riven in an attempt to slow its deterioration. Atrus will also not risk sending a real linking book to Riven until Gehn is safely imprisoned, in case his father should capture the book and use it to escape his confinement; the stranger must thus enter an Age with no way of leaving. Atrus tells the Stranger that he or she must trap Gehn in this book, find Catherine, and then "signal" him, and then sends the Stranger into Riven to accomplish these tasks.

The Stranger eventually finds Catherine on Riven. Because of the decay of Riven's structure, the only way to clearly signal Atrus is to bring about a massive disturbance in the Age's stability by reopening the star fissure; Atrus immediately links to Riven to investigate, and meets the stranger at the brink of the fissure.

Depending on the player's actions the events leading up to this point can vary considerably, but only the most complete, "winning" solution to the game is canon with the novels and subsequent games. In this case, the stranger has tricked Gehn into the prison book and released Catherine, who meets Atrus at the brink; Catherine has also taken the other inhabitants of Riven to safety in an Age written by the rebels. Catherine and Atrus thank the stranger and link back to Myst; the stranger then falls into the void, to be taken on the same path back to his own world that the first Myst book did.

Alternative "main" endings, taking place at the fissure's edge, can occur depending on whether or not the stranger traps Gehn successfully, and whether or not he is able to release Catherine. The stranger can also become trapped himself in the prison book or killed by Gehn, under a variety of circumstances, bringing the story to a more abrupt end.

Development

Cyan started working on Riven in 1993 right after Myst was released; before the name of Riven was ever decided, the Miller Brothers wanted a "natural flow" from the first game to the sequel. As Myst soon showed out to be a huge success, they had the possibility of expanding from their previous four people team to a much larger crew of designers, artists, programmers, sound designers etc. The development spanned more than four years, and was a much larger undertaking than the first game; Riven has more than 5,000 frames a player can view, double the number in Myst.

The design for the areas of Riven came from a desire to create something different and "better" than the Romantic styles of Myst. The first stage of development was to create the puzzles, in an attempt to integrate them as much as possible into the areas.

Reception and legacy

Riven was positively received upon release, with the PC version garnering an average critic score of 84% at Game Rankings. Jeff Segstack of GameSpot gave the game a 7.8 "Good" rating and explained that "It's a leisurely paced, all-encompassing, mentally challenging experience. If you enjoyed Myst, you'll thoroughly enjoy Riven." Computer Gaming World on the other hand claimed that it was the "same game with a new title" and like the first game, the story was non-existent after the first few minutes of gameplay and character interaction was minimal. On a more positive note, they also said that the graphics were the best they have ever seen in any adventure game. Laura Miller of Salon declared that "Art is what Riven approaches," and praised the gameplay as having "a graceful elegance that reminds of a masterfully constructed novel".

Gaming magazine Edge felt that although Riven was a good game, the solitary atmosphere and lack of mobility was steadily becoming outdated, as games like Super Mario 64 sacrificed some graphical fidelity for an increase in freedom. Awarding the game a 7/10, Edge stated "the question is whether Cyan can incorporate its almost Tolkien-esque world-building skills into a more cutting-edge game vehicle next time."

Despite the success of Riven, the Miller brothers eventually pursued other projects. Robyn Miller left Cyan to form a new development company called Land of Point. The next video game entry in the Myst franchise would be 2001's Myst III: Exile, which was not developed by Cyan or published by Broderbund: Presto Studios took over development, and Ubisoft published.

References

^ Staff (1998-08-17). News Briefs: Duke Movie news; Broderbund tackles DVD, and Simon & Schuster picks the Pink Panther. IGN. Retrieved on 2008-04-01.
^ ^a ^b Miller, Laura (1997-11-06). Riven Rapt. Salon. Retrieved on 2008-04-07.
^ ^a ^b ^c Staff (December 1997). "Riven Review". Edge (4): 96. Future Publishing.
^ ^a ^b ^c Lillington, Karen (1998-03-02). 'Myst' Partnership is Riven. Salon. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Cyan, Inc. (1997). Riven: The Sequel to Myst - User's Manual, Windows version, Playing the Game (in English), Brøderbund, 9-10.
^ Baxter, Steve; Nelson, Brian (1997-10-31). Fans say Riven release lives up to hype. CNN. Retrieved on 2008-05-14.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Millar Bros., Cyan, &c. (1997). The Making of Riven: The Sequel to Myst. Cyan, Inc./Brøderbund.
^ Millar Bros., Cyan, &c. (1993). The Making of Myst (.MOV). Cyan, Inc./Brøderbund.
^ Carroll, John (September 1997). "(D)Riven". Wired 5 (9).
^ ^a ^b 'Riven' (PC). Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
^ Sengstack, Jeff (1997-11-03). Riven: The Sequel to Myst. Gamespot. Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
^ Staff (January 1998). "Myst Again". Computer Gaming World.
^ Staff. "Robyn Miller, Co-creator of Riven and Myst, Forms New Development Company Called Land of Point", Business Wire, 1998-03-05, pp. 1.
^ Uhler, Greg (October 2001). "Presto Studios' Myst III: Exile". Game Developer 8 (10): 40-47.

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Gameplay

Plot

Development

Reception and legacy

References

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