Riven: The Sequel to Myst

About Riven: The Sequel to Myst

Riven (1997) is Cyan's sequel to Myst, a first-person puzzle adventure on a collapsing island world ruled by Atrus's tyrannical father Gehn, the best-selling computer game of 1997.

Riven: The Sequel to Myst in Depth

Atrus, freed in Myst, sends the player to the Age of Riven to rescue his wife Catherine from his manipulative father Gehn, its self-declared ruler, who has been trapped there for thirty years since Atrus and Catherine removed every linking book out of the Age. The player goes in with only Atrus's journal and a trap book, a one-man prison disguised as a linking book, with no way out, since a real linking book could let Gehn escape. Across Riven's five islands, the player meets Catherine, Gehn and the Moiety rebels, and the only way to signal Atrus is to reopen the Star Fissure, destabilising the Age further. Several endings depend on the player's actions; in the best, Gehn is tricked into the prison book and Catherine evacuates the Rivenese, while in the worst Gehn kills Atrus and the player and escapes.

As in Myst, the player explores in first person through thousands of pre-rendered stills, clicking to move and manipulate objects, with a cursor that changes to show what is possible and an optional Zip Mode for skipping to explored places. The puzzles are more numerous and complex, set across a volcanic landscape of cliffs and crater lakes strewn with Victorian-style machinery, lifts and roller coaster-like transports, whose purpose and role in the culture must be understood.

Making Riven: The Sequel to Myst

Cyan began Riven after Myst's success in 1993, growing from four people to a large crew, with a budget of $5 to $10 million, more than ten times Myst's. Director Robyn Miller and producer Rand Miller recruited co-director Richard Vander Wende, formerly of ILM and Disney's Aladdin, whose "edgier" vision gave it a grittier, weathered look; terrain was built in Softimage and rendered in Mental Ray with custom shaders, and live actors were filmed against blue screen. Robyn composed the score with leitmotifs for Atrus, Catherine and Gehn. Delays hurt Broderbund's stock, and it was released on 31 October 1997 with a multimillion-dollar campaign. PC Data ranked it the best-selling computer game of 1997 despite under three months on sale, and it sold 1.5 million within a year and over 4.5 million by 2001. Salon said "Art... is what Riven approaches", while Computer Gaming World called it the "same game with a new title" and Edge felt its static style was dated. It won the AIAS award for art and graphics. Robyn Miller then left Cyan, and a 3D remake followed in 2024.