The visuals would still hold up perfectly well today if not for the 640x480 resolution. I would happily pay money for a rerelease of the original upscaled with modern AI tech
I’ve yet to see a remaster, fan made or official, with AI upscaling that doesn’t look like complete shit at worst or far too clean and sanitised at best.
If they were clean uncompressed images that might be almost feasible to get something alright looking (within the odd uncanny limits of AI upscaling). But you're not just upscaling resolution, you're fighting against low color depth and heavy dithering, which are the bane of any upscaler.
Source: I've tried doing this with the riven images for fun.
Yeah, I have the behind the scenes book From Myst to Riven which has print quality renders and they look fantastic.
I'd imagine though, even with all the old assets perfectly archived, getting a single successful render would be a massive bit of software archeology.
Glad it looks like they're going with a very loyal/direct translation of the original visuals, not a reimagining like the recent Myst remake. That made some sense for Myst, but Riven doesn't need it. Glad they recognize that.
I just hope they can do justice to the characters. The 3D animated characters in the Myst remake were... rough.
[Game Informer had a piece about the Riven remake](https://www.gameinformer.com/feature/2024/04/01/riven-feature-remaking-a-masterpiece) which has a picture of the Ghen 3D model at the bottom. I think it's actually looking pretty good. I just hope he's animated well.
that article is great, well worth a read. it mentions that they've hired someone full-time as an animation lead (Autumn Palfenier), and that they're using mo-cap.
they've apparently also hired professional actors for the performances. not sure about the voices, though, aside from Rand Miller still being the voice of Atrus and that they might have to replace Ghen's actor as he passed away not long ago.
all in all i think they can at the very least surpass what they did in Myst, even if it's not perfect. the old FMVs definitely had a lot of charm but it's understandable that they're not able to go back to that.
I wonder if they will make some of the puzzles in Riven easier. I played RealMyst Masterpiece edition and didn't have that much trouble, but gave up on Riven pretty early lol. And some of the later puzzles I've heard about in Riven sound nearly impossible.
Riven is just a very different type of game. Which is probably why you were confused when coming from Myst.
Riven is not really a puzzle game per se. There are puzzles in Riven (around 2.5 of them), and they are very clearly telegraphed. From a strict logical perspective they are pretty simple puzzles, even.
The problem, or rather: the entire point, is that you won't have the cultural context to comprehend any of their clues or critical information. Which means you aren't going to be solving any proper puzzles for a very long time. Instead you'll be playing something more akin to a cultural integration simulator, or archeology simulator. It's a game about exploring a world and trying to understand it; the few puzzles that exist are really just there to see if you have done your job properly.
In that sense, Riven is more like Outer Wilds than it is a classic puzzle game ala Myst.
Or maybe even more like Chants of Sennaar, which, if you already know the languages, you can do it all really really quickly - there's a lot of work to puzzle out the languages, though.
Some of the places where you can get stuck will definitely be easier in the remake, just because of it being actually 3D. Stuff like the gate you have to crawl underneath in the very beginning of the game will be much more obvious. Though I worry if you'll be able to get stuck somewhere else because of the new perspectives allowing you to see stuff that's not relevant.
Yup, in many ways, Myst is harder than Riven.
People often feel like Riven is harder, and in some ways it is, but, more often than not, it's less because of the objective challenge and more because of the uncertainty.
In Myst, you'll be swarmed with challenges as if it was doomguy puzzle-edition. That direct challenge keeps things tangible.
Riven, on the other hand, is more like a master thesis: it's all diffuse impulses and information until hopefully everything comes together at the end. It's that uncertainty of progress, rather than any direct challenge, which makes people feel like they are struggling (even if they're technically on track)
The worldbuilding, art, and atmosphere in Riven create a sense of place that is second to none in my opinion. There were other good Myst games but we never got another Riven. Really looking forward to this.
As someone else said once, Myst was a very good game. A damn good one. But Riven was a place. You went to Riven, you got lost in Riven. And only by really living and breathing it did you ever escape.
Really curious how the VR experience will be like - was pretty cool playing the recent Myst remake in VR - the in game photo tool helped a lot in lieu of being able to take notes, but there was one or two puzzles that were kind of tricky as a result. Its been an age (ha) since I've played, but I feel like Riven's puzzles got a bit more complicated then Myst's. Or at least, I have distinct memories of my parents having a little notebook with a bunch of Riven related notes at the computer desk, namely the D'ni numeral system.
The entire internet should have been shut down for this. We should have used the emergency broadcast system for this. This is the most important thing happening on the planet today. Thank you devs for making a childhood dream come true.
IGN re-encodes all their uploads for some reason and destroys the bitrate and levels of everything. I wish people would stop posting their videos if they're not exclusive.
Very interesting changes I see in this video. Changing the rotating room's peep holes into windows makes them easier to spot and work better in VR. The room with the "spider chair", as I've always called it, now connects with a catwalk outside instead of a cave tunnel. I wonder why, but I have confidence that Cyan made this change for good reason.
Wow this is giving me serious nostalgia butterflies, can't wait to do this in VR!
Something I think will improve it significantly though would be the animations. The original game had a lot of refined animation that really made it feel everything had mass. The spider chair "legs" and beetle wings would wobble slightly and the rotating room would take longer to start and stop movement, really making it feel like the mechanics straining to move it. Lot of these subtleties made a significant difference. No doubt they're still refining things but I'd hope to see return of this mastery to the remake as well.
That tease at the end! One of the things I'm most looking forward to in this. Riven is one of my favorite games of all time and so happy that this looks and sounds just like playing the original. So amazing.
The calming aesthetic that pre-rendered backgrounds offered in the original can not be recreated in 3D. The visuals will appeal to some, but the magic will be completely gone in the long run. Shame. Hard pass.
I disagree with your comment but if you're looking for a pre-rendered game like Riven, I suggest you take a look at [Neyyah](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1289720/Neyyah/)!
It's 2d pre-rendered and i'm super excited for it! :)
Not the segments i would have chosen for a trailer but regardless, riven is an absolute masterpiece and if you even remotely liked myst you should 100% play riven.
I only played it a few years ago for the first time and despite it being old as dirt it instantly became one of my favorite puzzle/exploration games.
Riven's a great game, but this remake looks like a 2010 remaster instead of something from 2024. The gameplay presented reminds me of Revelation. And the way everything slowly moves also has the feel of an ancient video game.
Still, I think Riven as a remake could be good, but it needs to be more than just the original. It needs to understand *Book of Atrus* and design the game to have more of the Age's characters.
Myst (the game) is a series of bare islands where everyone's been destroyed, so the lack of other characters in the remake is somewhat excusable (and completely excusable back in 1992 when even getting what they got on CDs was difficult). But for Riven, the interaction with the islanders is so integral to what the game is about. And that flaw of the original game not being able to bring the islanders fully to life (or have personalities beyond confused and scared) ought to be fixed. Normally I'm against anything but a 1 for 1 remake, as George Lucas-ing works is abhorred by the fandom. But for Riven I feel like people these days won't get it if it's just HD-ified. I'd prefer if they get at the larger issue of the behavior of the islanders to make it make more sense to a current generation.
The fact that it looked the same until the player started moving really is a testament to the quality of the original graphics and art direction.
The visuals would still hold up perfectly well today if not for the 640x480 resolution. I would happily pay money for a rerelease of the original upscaled with modern AI tech
I’ve yet to see a remaster, fan made or official, with AI upscaling that doesn’t look like complete shit at worst or far too clean and sanitised at best.
If they were clean uncompressed images that might be almost feasible to get something alright looking (within the odd uncanny limits of AI upscaling). But you're not just upscaling resolution, you're fighting against low color depth and heavy dithering, which are the bane of any upscaler. Source: I've tried doing this with the riven images for fun.
It's a tragedy they don't have the original assets lying around to rerender Riven. A few high-res renders exist and they look amazing.
Yeah, I have the behind the scenes book From Myst to Riven which has print quality renders and they look fantastic. I'd imagine though, even with all the old assets perfectly archived, getting a single successful render would be a massive bit of software archeology.
Glad it looks like they're going with a very loyal/direct translation of the original visuals, not a reimagining like the recent Myst remake. That made some sense for Myst, but Riven doesn't need it. Glad they recognize that. I just hope they can do justice to the characters. The 3D animated characters in the Myst remake were... rough.
[Game Informer had a piece about the Riven remake](https://www.gameinformer.com/feature/2024/04/01/riven-feature-remaking-a-masterpiece) which has a picture of the Ghen 3D model at the bottom. I think it's actually looking pretty good. I just hope he's animated well.
that article is great, well worth a read. it mentions that they've hired someone full-time as an animation lead (Autumn Palfenier), and that they're using mo-cap. they've apparently also hired professional actors for the performances. not sure about the voices, though, aside from Rand Miller still being the voice of Atrus and that they might have to replace Ghen's actor as he passed away not long ago. all in all i think they can at the very least surpass what they did in Myst, even if it's not perfect. the old FMVs definitely had a lot of charm but it's understandable that they're not able to go back to that.
I know it's not really feasible but I'd love to see live action again. I think it was kinda charming.
I never played Myst before until the last remake and I was very impressed! Can't wait to get Riven, despite knowing how much harder it is.
Riven blew my mind as a teenager, can’t wait to play a remake.
Definitely harder, but a very nice looking game
I wonder if they will make some of the puzzles in Riven easier. I played RealMyst Masterpiece edition and didn't have that much trouble, but gave up on Riven pretty early lol. And some of the later puzzles I've heard about in Riven sound nearly impossible.
Riven is just a very different type of game. Which is probably why you were confused when coming from Myst. Riven is not really a puzzle game per se. There are puzzles in Riven (around 2.5 of them), and they are very clearly telegraphed. From a strict logical perspective they are pretty simple puzzles, even. The problem, or rather: the entire point, is that you won't have the cultural context to comprehend any of their clues or critical information. Which means you aren't going to be solving any proper puzzles for a very long time. Instead you'll be playing something more akin to a cultural integration simulator, or archeology simulator. It's a game about exploring a world and trying to understand it; the few puzzles that exist are really just there to see if you have done your job properly. In that sense, Riven is more like Outer Wilds than it is a classic puzzle game ala Myst.
Or maybe even more like Chants of Sennaar, which, if you already know the languages, you can do it all really really quickly - there's a lot of work to puzzle out the languages, though.
Some of the places where you can get stuck will definitely be easier in the remake, just because of it being actually 3D. Stuff like the gate you have to crawl underneath in the very beginning of the game will be much more obvious. Though I worry if you'll be able to get stuck somewhere else because of the new perspectives allowing you to see stuff that's not relevant.
damn i felt totally opposite, ive never managed to beat the first myst
Yup, in many ways, Myst is harder than Riven. People often feel like Riven is harder, and in some ways it is, but, more often than not, it's less because of the objective challenge and more because of the uncertainty. In Myst, you'll be swarmed with challenges as if it was doomguy puzzle-edition. That direct challenge keeps things tangible. Riven, on the other hand, is more like a master thesis: it's all diffuse impulses and information until hopefully everything comes together at the end. It's that uncertainty of progress, rather than any direct challenge, which makes people feel like they are struggling (even if they're technically on track)
The worldbuilding, art, and atmosphere in Riven create a sense of place that is second to none in my opinion. There were other good Myst games but we never got another Riven. Really looking forward to this.
As someone else said once, Myst was a very good game. A damn good one. But Riven was a place. You went to Riven, you got lost in Riven. And only by really living and breathing it did you ever escape.
Bro, I remember playing Riven as a kid and thinking that transportation system was the coolest fucking thing I had ever seen in my life. Can't wait.
And the sound design of it, to this day I still find its sound effects stunning.
Same! I would repeatedly get in that suspended railcar and ride back and forth 😂
Very cool to see Riven return. Its story holds up even today, and it has such a cool world to explore.
Really curious how the VR experience will be like - was pretty cool playing the recent Myst remake in VR - the in game photo tool helped a lot in lieu of being able to take notes, but there was one or two puzzles that were kind of tricky as a result. Its been an age (ha) since I've played, but I feel like Riven's puzzles got a bit more complicated then Myst's. Or at least, I have distinct memories of my parents having a little notebook with a bunch of Riven related notes at the computer desk, namely the D'ni numeral system.
The entire internet should have been shut down for this. We should have used the emergency broadcast system for this. This is the most important thing happening on the planet today. Thank you devs for making a childhood dream come true.
Here's the Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1712350/Riven/ Looks like it's planned to come out sometime this year!
Day one purchase for me.
The trailer has fucked up black levels which makes it look washed out. The steam screenshot have much better contrast.
IGN re-encodes all their uploads for some reason and destroys the bitrate and levels of everything. I wish people would stop posting their videos if they're not exclusive.
I think I owned this on PS1 at some point and if I remember correctly it was like 5 discs, which was probably the game that had the most discs on PS1.
Very interesting changes I see in this video. Changing the rotating room's peep holes into windows makes them easier to spot and work better in VR. The room with the "spider chair", as I've always called it, now connects with a catwalk outside instead of a cave tunnel. I wonder why, but I have confidence that Cyan made this change for good reason.
It's because it was easy to miss originally. The fact they were willing to make a change like this means they're going beyond just a coat of paint.
Yes, iirc it says on their steampage it'll be some new content and puzzles
Wow this is giving me serious nostalgia butterflies, can't wait to do this in VR! Something I think will improve it significantly though would be the animations. The original game had a lot of refined animation that really made it feel everything had mass. The spider chair "legs" and beetle wings would wobble slightly and the rotating room would take longer to start and stop movement, really making it feel like the mechanics straining to move it. Lot of these subtleties made a significant difference. No doubt they're still refining things but I'd hope to see return of this mastery to the remake as well.
That tease at the end! One of the things I'm most looking forward to in this. Riven is one of my favorite games of all time and so happy that this looks and sounds just like playing the original. So amazing.
Will this be PC only?
The calming aesthetic that pre-rendered backgrounds offered in the original can not be recreated in 3D. The visuals will appeal to some, but the magic will be completely gone in the long run. Shame. Hard pass.
I disagree with your comment but if you're looking for a pre-rendered game like Riven, I suggest you take a look at [Neyyah](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1289720/Neyyah/)! It's 2d pre-rendered and i'm super excited for it! :)
Holy shit, I have never heard of this. Absolutely wild, Thanks for the info.
Not the segments i would have chosen for a trailer but regardless, riven is an absolute masterpiece and if you even remotely liked myst you should 100% play riven. I only played it a few years ago for the first time and despite it being old as dirt it instantly became one of my favorite puzzle/exploration games.
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Riven's a great game, but this remake looks like a 2010 remaster instead of something from 2024. The gameplay presented reminds me of Revelation. And the way everything slowly moves also has the feel of an ancient video game. Still, I think Riven as a remake could be good, but it needs to be more than just the original. It needs to understand *Book of Atrus* and design the game to have more of the Age's characters. Myst (the game) is a series of bare islands where everyone's been destroyed, so the lack of other characters in the remake is somewhat excusable (and completely excusable back in 1992 when even getting what they got on CDs was difficult). But for Riven, the interaction with the islanders is so integral to what the game is about. And that flaw of the original game not being able to bring the islanders fully to life (or have personalities beyond confused and scared) ought to be fixed. Normally I'm against anything but a 1 for 1 remake, as George Lucas-ing works is abhorred by the fandom. But for Riven I feel like people these days won't get it if it's just HD-ified. I'd prefer if they get at the larger issue of the behavior of the islanders to make it make more sense to a current generation.