Riven is awesome. I still have fond memories of this game. I think if I went back and played it, I would still love it. Not that I've played puzzle/adventure games that extensively, but of the ones I've played this one still stands out in a big way.
Compared to Myst, Riven is a huge and immersive world. Rather than jumping back and forth between multiple Ages like in Myst, you spend most of your time in one colossal world. However, where Myst had something important on just about every screen, Riven had locations that were clearly unimportant. This made it somewhat difficult to know what to focus on. That is, perhaps, the one major annoyance of the game. There are numerous objects that are relatively insignificant until later in the game (and you start right by them). How are you supposed to know what to focus on?
The game is essentially composed of two major puzzles, which can be broken down into smaller components. The smaller puzzles basically just open up new areas, while the more complex and obvious puzzles are for exposition and progression in the game. I refer to the first major puzzle as the animal puzzle. Again, the game doesn't exactly make it clear what you're supposed to be doing out of the gate, but in case you missed it, you're supposed to go around finding the various Rivenese animals and listen to the sounds they make. This proved to be difficult on my PC because inevitably the sound would cut out after about 20 to 30 minutes of gameplay. Once we figured out how important the sound is to the game, we started paying a lot more attention to that. We got as far as the animal puzzle cave, but once we got there we didn't even know what we were supposed to do. Since it took us a lot of trial and error just to get to the cave, we broke down and looked online for clues.
I refer to the second puzzle as the marble puzzle. After the animal puzzle, your purpose becomes a lot clearer. Not that this puzzle is any easier, but it is pretty apparent what needs to be done here. You need to attach a color to every portal, and then figure out the location of each of these portals in Riven by manipulating various objects. Then when you arrive at the marble board, you have to place the different colored marbles on the right squares.
Because the game is so hands-on, it's very gratifying when you solve a puzzle. It's not like there are a lot of clues or hints to guide you, so you have a significant sense of accomplishment when you finally figure something out. There are a few lazy challenges, in my humble opinion. There's an elevator that can only be opened by pushing a button on a pedestal in front of it, and it is hidden extremely well (you can see it from one side but not the other, and the button is on the opposite side you would expect it to be). Things like that are just frustrating and don't necessarily add to the depth of the game.
Still, all in all, Riven is a cool game. It was especially fun getting to the point where I could run through the entire game in roughly 30 to 40 minutes, and demo for my friends.
Here's a little video from eedobaba7726 on YouTube:
