Cyan


Red Orb
Entertainment


October 31, 1997

By Moira Muldoon

Page 1

Wow. That seems to be the general verdict on the "luckiness" of getting to play and preview Riven, The Sequel to Myst. The game is, to put it mildly, eagerly anticipated - as it should be. Myst remains one of the most popular computer games of all time, having sold something like a zillion copies since its release four years ago. The graphics, the frustrating/stimulating conundrums, the puzzling intricacies of buttons and levers pressed in the correct order - these are the things that set Myst apart from the others and kept thousands and thousands of gamers up half the night and straight through to the next day.

There have definitely been questions and rumors about Riven - about the missed deadlines (it was originally announced for last Christmas), about the difficulties between Robyn and Rand Miller (artistic perfection vs. making deadlines and economics), and about the rapidly diminishing funds. But despite all this speculation, the biggest question is about the game itself - will the game be fun? Can it distinguish itself from Myst, go beyond Myst, and still have the same appeal to gamers? Guaranteed the graphics will be gorgeous with all the effort invested in them, but the puzzles will make or break this game - beautiful backgrounds and scenery notwithstanding. The whole world will learn about Riven at the end of October, when the game is released, but you can find out about it right now in the following pages, along with information about the storyline, the worlds, the sound, and the graphics. Check it out.