Game review: Local studio Cyan’s Riven remake is more breathtaking and immersive than ever

The Spokane area’s fabled video game developer Cyan Inc. recently became the oldest surviving independent game studio in the U.S., so it’s only fitting they’d release a comprehensive remake of Riven, the 1997 sequel to Myst that cemented them as creative visionaries in video gaming.

For those out of the loop, Mead-based development team Cyan was founded in 1987 by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller. They dabbled in some charming point-and-click children’s games before releasing Myst in 1993, which sold 6 million units and remained the best-selling PC game of all time for nearly a decade.

The brothers knew they had a lot to live up to, so they expanded their studio and even enlisted the help of Richard Vander Wende, best known as the production designer for 1992’s “Aladdin.” The project was so ambitious that it took over four years to complete, which was unheard of in those days. Their hard work paid off: The game sold like hotcakes and was reviewed very positively.

While Cyan has proven to be talented in a variety of ways, the team is best known for its ability to craft mesmerizing worlds that simultaneously captivate and confound gamers with environmental storytelling and esoteric puzzles. Although some video games are little more than glorified shooting galleries, there has and always will be a market for titles that propel the idea that video games can be a legitimate art form like any other type of media.

Across its 37 years of experience, Cyan hasn’t lost its ability to do just that. Last year’s release, Firmament, deeply impressed me, and the studio’s Riven remake, released June 25, continues the trend of excellence.

Riven picks up where the story of Myst left off, with the player being whisked away into the “Age” of Riven, an unstable world on the brink of collapse composed of five distinct islands. The player character, “the stranger,” must explore abstract worlds and complete the assigned rescue mission by solving complex puzzles, some so esoteric the nature of the puzzle itself is not immediately obvious.

It is not a game for an impatient player. Deciphering Riven’s puzzles can take a long time and often involves searching for clues. Luckily, the realms you search are gorgeous and engrossing, so it’s not hard to find oneself pleasantly immersed in the scenery and mysterious lore. This is not an exhilarating game – it is a game you “vibe out” to, and Riven doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not.

While the 2024 remake of the 1997 original doesn’t take too many liberties, Cyan did make a handful of changes to the puzzles and presentation – and Riven is largely better for it. The original title was renowned for its incredible prerendered graphics, and the remake’s faithfully recreated and fully explorable environments approach photorealism.

Consistent with Cyan’s other recent releases, Riven is fully playable with a traditional setup or in VR – something very few developers have been doing. Although VR gaming has been gradually rising in popularity, most titles are simple minigames – Riven is a solid choice for VR gamers looking for a proper, full-length title, and the game’s first-person perspective and focus on immersion is a shoe-in for VR.

Riven’s masterful presentation and smooth gameplay leave me excited to see what the future holds for the small studio. In a 2023 interview, development director Hannah Gamiel mentioned the possibility of exploring other genres, and I would be thrilled to see Cyan’s incredible visionaries do just that.

With the majority of the video game industry’s 20,000 layoffs across 2023-24 occurring at major publishers, independent development teams are more important now than ever. In a stagnating industry, many gamers are looking to studios like Cyan to shake things up. They can and they will continue to.