I'm very conflicted here. On the one hand, Riven's worldbuilding and ability to create an natural and cohesive environment is extraordinary and even more impressive considering its age. Even playing nearly 25 years later, there is genuine value Riven has for informing and inspiring other game creators today.
But alas, not everything is so great. The visuals, while impressive for the time, have aged very poorly and cause numerous problems when that conflicts with the gameplay. Routinely, I'd be unable to see switches, buttons, and other interactables that were right in front of my face because of how they blend into everything else.
And for a game that excels with its environmental storytelling, its awful just how much of the story is written in long diaries with nearly illegible cursive writing. Had this been entirely optional it may have been forgiven, but there are actual puzzle solutions hidden in these diaries thus forcing you to go through long blocks of hard-to-read text instead of actually engaging with the world.
Finally, the puzzles themselves are a mixed bag. Those that test your knowledge of the history, culture, and other details of the environment are excellent and really help to make the world of Riven feel like a genuinely cohesive entity. But there are plenty of others that fail to live up to those heights. Plenty of puzzles require pixel hunting, interacting with pieces of the environment in an absurd way, going along a path that had absolutely no visual indicators, or by forcing you to watch several seconds of animation for each step of the process making even the right answers take forever to actually input. There are no shortage of puzzles that feel designed more to frustrate the player than to test them on their understanding and engagement with the world.
Is Riven worth playing? Kinda. There is brilliance here that still offers lessons to developers and enjoyment to players even today. Yet, much of that brilliance requires trudging through a swamp of outdated, tedious, and frustrating design choices that can make much of the moment-to-moment gameplay feel like its not worth your time or effort.
I hope to God that there will be a remaster of this game at some point that will address some of these issues. There is so much to love about Riven that even in its current state there is still a strong case to recommend it. But the flaws run deep and any recommendation has to come with a plethora of asterisks attached.
But alas, not everything is so great. The visuals, while impressive for the time, have aged very poorly and cause numerous problems when that conflicts with the gameplay. Routinely, I'd be unable to see switches, buttons, and other interactables that were right in front of my face because of how they blend into everything else.
And for a game that excels with its environmental storytelling, its awful just how much of the story is written in long diaries with nearly illegible cursive writing. Had this been entirely optional it may have been forgiven, but there are actual puzzle solutions hidden in these diaries thus forcing you to go through long blocks of hard-to-read text instead of actually engaging with the world.
Finally, the puzzles themselves are a mixed bag. Those that test your knowledge of the history, culture, and other details of the environment are excellent and really help to make the world of Riven feel like a genuinely cohesive entity. But there are plenty of others that fail to live up to those heights. Plenty of puzzles require pixel hunting, interacting with pieces of the environment in an absurd way, going along a path that had absolutely no visual indicators, or by forcing you to watch several seconds of animation for each step of the process making even the right answers take forever to actually input. There are no shortage of puzzles that feel designed more to frustrate the player than to test them on their understanding and engagement with the world.
Is Riven worth playing? Kinda. There is brilliance here that still offers lessons to developers and enjoyment to players even today. Yet, much of that brilliance requires trudging through a swamp of outdated, tedious, and frustrating design choices that can make much of the moment-to-moment gameplay feel like its not worth your time or effort.
I hope to God that there will be a remaster of this game at some point that will address some of these issues. There is so much to love about Riven that even in its current state there is still a strong case to recommend it. But the flaws run deep and any recommendation has to come with a plethora of asterisks attached.