Riven Retrospective / Full Playthrough 

The roller coaster also blew my mind has a kid! I remember riding it for like an hour 😂

This game is BRILLIANT. Unparallel atmosfere and immersion. In this sequel, Myst acheive another level of artistry and gameplay. The puzzles are great. The music and sounds are crazy!! IMHO this is the top-of-top adventure of all times. Number #1

If you had multiple CD drives, you could put more than one Riven disc in, and the game would know that, and wouldn't ask you to swap discs. I didn't have FIVE drives, mind you, I had two, but if you were going back and forth between two places, it was so convenient.

I have two separate comments here: Firstly, this was my grandpa's favorite game and while neither of us knew any english at the time he still managed to beat it all on his own, while I would be drawing all the animals of riven any time I was visiting. Secondly, I love this concept of a video that isn't a speedrun but a "leisurely jog" that shows all the intended solutions in a fast and interesting manner, great video!

I never played Myst prior to Riven. I remember playing this game when I was probably seven or eight, having absolutely no idea what I was doing or suppose to do. I just enjoyed exploring and playing with all the transports and gadgets.

I love the notebook cam. Very good playthrough of a classic!

"Riven likes to reward you for solving little increments of puzzles, with basically, nothing." No truer words have ever been said about this game and what's more insane is how that actually does become a positive. Sure Riven has "puzzles" but the thing I always took away from them was that they had actual function. Myst had puzzles that were obviously... Puzzles. And while the game narratively tried it's best to write some of the most absurd ones as some form of advanced "book related security system," some were on Resident Evil levels of "THE CREST GOES INTO THE DOOR AT THE POLICE STATION!" Uh-huh. Sure. Riven and it's puzzles all felt like they had a reason to be there. You weren't exactly "solving" anything half the time, you were trying to understand the functions of a society. Most of the time the game feels like you're being asked to drive a car without any knowledge of what are cars. The number system alone, the fact you learn it in a literal abandoned school, there are aspects of this game that modern games don't understand today.

Truly a masterpiece, a world that doesn’t force itself on you but allows you to freely immerse yourself in it at your own pace. I’ve never experienced a game quite like it, though I know personally it has inspired me as a game developer and other developers to build/create other such fantastic experiences.

There's another hint for the fish. When you're in the village on the forest island, near to where you lower the submarine, there is a string of fish hanging on a post. There are only 5 animals you encounter in Riven, and 1 is the only number you haven't paired with an animal. So, by elimination you can associate #1 with the fish. Love your walkthroughs by the way. I've played this game a million times and still can't stay away. 😊

Have had this game since I was 7 years old. You opening the totem just blew my fracking mind.

I could really live here and be happy as long as I have all the modern creature comforts in my lockable hut.

When I first played this game as a kid I didn't understand the plot, the world building details or anything. I just thought it was this weird creepy world with dudes in towers that made whistle noises, a cloaked ghosts running around in the underground of tunnels in that control island, weird children lost outside the city, etc. I never realized any of that had a purpose or significance which made the game so much more surreal. Watching it 24 years later I really appreciate how much subtle detail they put in to the world building to make the world believable.

Beating Riven in less than 2 hours is sacrilegious.

I wish I could go back in time and play this again for the first time, and then remain there forever lol. No seriously, nostalgia is a powerful thing, especially when you're remembering a time when life literally was "the best" for you.

I lost weeks of my life playing this, 20 years ago! Brilliant and beautiful game.

Beating myst and riven with my girlfriend back when they came out was so fun. Still have a sketch book full of notes, maps, glyphs which without notes it seemed impossible. Love the first 3.

Wow, I played Myst when it first came out. It was revelatory for me. Never played a shooter game after that, only puzzles. Tried to start Riven several times but couldn’t spare the time due to work and family. Now retired and was going to play it on iPad but saw your channel and decided, at 62, it was time to just watch you play through. Thoroughly enjoyable. I never even knew that 3, 4, and 5 had come out. Will watch your play throughs.

Awesome playthrough, man! Very relaxing and nice to have on in the background!

Great playthrough. I remember I could never solve these puzzles when I was a kid. Seeing it now makes me appreciate the art of this game even more. I would have never found most of these puzzles on my own. Too cryptic. A bit sad that you skipped many of the cutscenes as I haven't seen them yet. :(

Ah Riven, the game I loved to play when I was wee lad.. not understanding English, not understanding the game, but what a game it was.. eventually I did beat it but it took a really long time (years). My kid is 3 now... in a few years he should be ready to dive in another world.

Great walkthrough. The balance between hint and solutions is done in a way that promotes exploration without huge delays in solutions. + for the graph paper and notation. Nice work!

Thank you for taking the time to explore the areas and things that do not lead to the unraveling of specific puzzles but rather add flavor to the overall experience.

the countless hours i lost on these games ;D so much searching for sometimes not very obvious outcomes..... looking back it was a great experience but frustrating as well haha. seeing a walk through finally gives me closure haha

I just played Myst remastered, and it was great to be able to watch this playthrough of Riven right after. Brings back lots of old memories of both! Thanks!

This brings back some very fond memories of playing Myst, Riven and the rest of the series. Thanks for this.

Those are the neatest notes I've ever seen.

Thank you so much for this playthrough, I really enjoyed watching your approach.

Wow!! Surprising so much fun to watch. You never lost any enthusiasm during this whole playthrough, and this game is not easy. Thanks for taking me back in time bro!

You were twelve. I was in my forties. I never got as far as you did in this game, but it was the most interesting game I ever played.I still have the packet with Myst, and five Riven disks.

This game was even harder than myst but I loved getting lost in it for hours. I LOVED the roller coaster.

Thank you very much Jordan, your excellent walk-throughs and insights have added a new dimension to my play-throughs of these wonderful games. Greatly appreciated! In short you ROCK :)

I think it is ten bucks now. best ten bucks ever spent. great game. I too had played it when it came out. and launched my 3d animation career because of MYST 1. and I remember never finishing Riven because my one of my several CD roms was corrupt and crashed in the later part of the game. I remember having to constantly switch cd roms. must have gotten scratched. so was very pleased to see it online, and now play it with my children. I needed this refresher as there were several areas near impossible to know where to click to get passed the linear end points, frustrating for many people. great game but they could have made some doors easier to find.

Thank you for the playthrough, nice job with video! I remember the game as a child. I was always a fan of myst.

Wow! What a nostalgia trip that was ! Thanks for sharing! Two things I remember clearly about playing this game as a teenager : 1. I was amazed by the roller coaster ride at the beginning. 2. I was quite bummed out by not being able to explore Tay….I mean that was the front cover of the game 😢

Jordan, I really love these videos. I haven't played these games but they fascinate me. These videos have been really comforting as I moved to a new city and started at a new school.

I found Riven again in my game collection. All these quests, which i was so close to solve, i spent hours . . . i really like the lot back information around the quest you gave. . . Thanks Jordan

Absolutely fascinating video, and a great watch. Myst and Riven were a bit before my time (I vaguely recall poking around on the island as a small child before getting bored), so it's pleasant to see how they were actually meant to be played. I was recommended this video by the Journal Updated podcast, so shout out to them. I doubt I would have seen it otherwise.

Thank you so much for these playthroughs!

Very nice and thoughtful presentation of a timeless classic here. I played Riven with my brother as a kid and last year decided to give it another go. Proud to say I was able to get through it all without looking anything up (brute forced the fish, however). Still, there is so much lore to be found - when I finally beat it and looked some things up I was very impressed by all the supplemental lore. So many ways of understanding this rich world that lead to ultimately being able to solve the puzzles. I distinctly remember the moment I realized beyond doubt about the animal shapes - chills, man! I am really looking forward to the "RealRiven" Starry Expanse project - so far it looks incredible, and the team has been working with Cyan under a NDA since late 2019. I expect that by now they are not too far away from wrapping it up. Thanks again for this retrospective, hope you have been well in the intervening years.

You skipped it when you went back to Temple Island, when the temple doors were slooowly opening, Gehn was looking right at you in that imager cage (pulling a Great and Powerful Oz impression) before shutting it down. Sadly, he's split from his big, comfy chair before you get there. Still, scared the crap out of me when I first played back in the late 90s.

This is an excellent walk through and commentary. Myst and Riven were so freaking cool

Late comment, but thanks for putting together this really fantastic walkthrough and commentary. Riven was a game that I struggled with 30+ years ago. The place I got stuck was in the crater island, realizing I needed to make a u-turn and then close the doors after encountering the frog trap. Seeing you play through the game end-to-end, overlaid with running commentary connecting clues and written notes with puzzle solutions was cathartic. Thanks for helping me tie up a nerdy loose end for me. Now, to watch your other retrospectives.

Thank you for this clear and concise walkthrough. I never got around to finishing it 20 years ago because it was my Uncle's property, and it takes a lot of time without help. And your commentary is intelligent and insightful; you picked up on many of the subtle nuances throughout the game, things most of us could probably sense but couldn't quite put into words.

Excellent playthrough mate. Watched this while sick in bed. As you felt about Riven, i felt about Myst as i'm a couple of years older. Thanks.

Thank you Jordan! It was a pleasure to go through Riven with you. I too played this and Myst as a kid. Amazing stuff considering how long ago this was! This became an obsession and I couldn’t wait to play the next day after I thought through all the possible scenarios. Riven was tough and glad you were there to help me through 😂. I still have the original cd’s for both games! Played this time on an iPad Pro that I bought just to play these. I know you made this some years ago, but awesome work! Never got tired of your voice! Sure hope we will see someone continue the story in like fashion.

I NEVER knew about getting the colors from the viewing room where you can see the whark.

Man I remember playing through Myst Riven and Exile with my dad when I was little. We'd take notes and stuff as we went and it was so fun.

Game felt so much different than Myst since the place is populated. I played this on PS1 on like 7 CDs or something. Now I'm playing it on my PC wireless in VR on a Quest 3. I can't believe it. I'm much less familiar with Riven than I was with Myst but it's still so crazy to be there.

This was absolutely my favorite Myst game. Thank you for the revisit and for all your behind-the-scenes info about its production!

Fantastic playthrough. I only played Myst as a kid (though I remember Riven's very distinctive cover art), and hearing the way the story has expanded and the intricate triple puzzle the game leads up to is very fascinating. Grab a beverage, sit down, relax and enjoy -- indeed!

Thank you for including the notebook cam!

Whenever Atrus said "Thank God you've returned", I liked to pretend the character had walked back across from the other side of the room.

This is possibly the best Let's Play I have seen on RU-vid, and I have seen quite a lot of masterclass ones such as MatthewMatosis'. You have an exceptional eye for environmental storytelling and conveying intricate details in an entertaining and concise way. I bought Riven over a decade ago and just finished it recently and this enriched the experience afterwards quite a bit.

This is a lifetime game... There may be diferent ends and also diferent ways to get there. The jurney is the most important and is fascinating... Thank you!

That was very well done. Thank you. I played Myst when it first came out. loved it. started Riven but never finished it

Thanks for that Jordan! Thanks also for talking in a normal voice not *super* excited etc like so many people do (drives him *crazzeeee!*) I spent ages trying to do Riven way back when and recently decided to have another look now that it's available on Steam. I would NEVER have worked out the game- just not bright enough or maybe just not motivated enough BUT I LOVE the worlds and atmosphere. So thank you for the walkthrough, really enjoyed it. haven't realMyst atmosphere of the place. I Amy or may not watch the walkthrough, probably wait a bit thanks again

You and I are the same age and every single part of this playthrough I remembered just how cool this game was to play that Christmas week.

As a recent discoverer of the Myst franchise, this was an extremely beneficial watch. I had previously gone through Riven following a no commentary video longplay and didn't really understand what was happening. Your playthrough very clearly explains the logic behind the puzzles and has made me want to return to it for another playthrough. I see you've finally tackled Myst 4 as well which is great to see! I hope you also get to explore Uru and Myst 5 at some point because they're both great little expansions of the lore. Very much looking forward to watching the rest of your Myst franchise playthroughs too!

Looking over the cliff after the intro, you can see the body of the fallen guard. This is my favorite game ever and it was cool to revisit it. I remember staying up long nights trying to solve these puzzles. Oh, and loading the discs between islands...didn't mind it back then. It provided time for note taking and reflecting. I remember the artwork on the disc sleeves was so cool. Such a beautiful landscape throughout and the music too. Man, the live action people would startle me at times because they weren't there in Myst. I don't think it will ever happen, but it would be cool if this game received a makeover like Myst allowing for a 360 degree playthrough. Great video!

That was very well done and most enjoyable. I was grateful for the walk-through, because I gave up on the game, but I enjoyed Myst very much and always wondered what happened with Riven. Thankyou! I'm really glad you did that.

Never played this back in the day but I remember seeing it on shelves. The first game is a masterpiece, love going back through from time to time. One of these days I'll get around to playing this one.

You’re really entertaining to watch. You have a great camera presence.

thanks so much for this! I loved Riven and Myst as a kid!

Thanks for the vid, one of the greatest adventure/puzzle games ever made. My favourite puzzle (or information delivery device) of all time is the little hangman game in the classroom. It has it all: perfect integration with the lore and environment, it's also Gehn's propaganda and a hint to the gallows device... it just makes sense :) I will never forgive myself for looking up one spoiler (the small wooden spheres), it was so obvious in hindsight!

Thank you for this! I got stumped while playing and eventually gave up in frustration. Nice to see what I missed.

I must say a hearty Thank You from the opposite side of the gamer spectrum. I was in my late thirties / early forties when these games came out. I remember buying Myst and playing it for maybe 10 minutes before throwing my hands in the air. I did not get it _At_ _All_ -- and something told me that I wasn't going to -- so I never seriously tried. I'm sure I tossed that copy long ago. But I'm glad to finally have an idea what the hubbub was all about.

love the side info that you give, as a kid I was to lazy (and i wasn't very good in english yet) to read all the texts in the books. Now, to know the whole story behind riven is an eyeopener! Thnx!

This was really enjoyable to watch! Thanks!

Thanks very much for your playthrough! I spent some of today seeing if I could get the original Riven discs going on my antique PowerBook G4 running Mac OS X.4 (in the 9.2 Classic environment) and happily - with the occasional jogging of memory by skipping around your video - was able to get all the way through without any technical hitches. I think this is the first time I’ve played it in about the last five to ten years? Such a wonderful and elegant game!

Brilliant, very entertaining with the way you presented it and explained all the puzzles, brings back memories when I first played this all them years ago. You should do the other games too.

My sister and I absolutely love your playthrough! We beat the game, but a few of the puzzles we solved through trial and error. It was great to see what we missed! We're working our way through the Myst series and were thrilled to see that you have a video on Exile too! Also, your explanation of the D'ni number system was great!

THANK YOU for this playthrough Jordan. I got Myst and Riven around -00 for my birthday when I was like 11 years old. The bundle included a cool Personal Journal for me to write down the clues and stuff. I didn't understand a thing. I just loved the scenery in combination with the sounds. I only wrote down two marble-stones in the journal. I've given the games a couple of tries over the years but never with greater success. Funny though, I still have the personal Journal and later it became my Dream Journal where I wrote down my weird dreams. Anyways, now, about 20 years later, I played through both games and even though I'm kind of disappointed in myself for not playing the games without any help, I'm very glad and relieved that I've completed them. They are truly something else. I told my mom, who got me the games for my birthday, and she remembered the games very well. Great video Jordan! Thanks again.

Played this as a kid, without understanding a thing! But I loved clicking through the world, it gave me a very creepy vibe. I have to play it again!

Awesome play through! Great commentary.

I used this video to help me learn this game inside and out, and now I can finish it in under and hour. Not a speed run, exactly, more like an efficiency run with no mistakes

i have all the games so i went back and started from the beginning and god damn i learn new things everytime with this game ,i think just playing the game ya its puzzles but knowing what everything means it blows me a way for such an early game

Excellent play through!

really excellent video man, thank you!

I absolutely love the "burn in" visual effect you get adding power to Ghen's linking books. It looks like the cliché "film burning up" effect, but seeing it in effective reverse looks awesome.

Fun Myst lore: att 1:42:27 the photos on the wall are indeed Gehn's parents - Aitrus and Ti'ana (Anna). They are the main characters of the 2nd Myst novel "The Book of Ti'ana". A great read that really opens up the lore of this world and cemented me as a life-long Myst fan.

This is one of my favorite videos on RU-vid.

Cant believe how far I had gotten as a 10-11yo child. I would spend entire afternoons after school just clicking around trying to find new paths I might have missed. The giant tree was on the box art, so I knew there was another area somewhere, but I never figured it out and we didn't have access to the internet back then. This game used to drive me crazy. I'm impressed with my younger self for figuring out the color marble puzzle. I failed on the domes and animal puzzle though. Never made the connection that he found that ball in the water and it was suppose to represent a fish, and I don't remember extrapolating the numbers to 25. The tree on the CD case threw me off. I was convinced there was a part of one of the islands I had missed and I just needed to find that tree to get the rest of my answers.

Thank you for all your time and effort to present this game. I did play Myst and Riven when they came out and I agree with all you say. I loved the game but I confess I had to cheat a bit with the puzzles but the graphics at the time were spellbinding.

I've watched this video about 4 times now. Best Riven video on RU-vid.

Nice walkthrough with the use of chapters. I just finished Riven and am now just trying different endings. (I actually played Riven years ago but never really finished as I saw new stuff second go 'round). I hope you do the other Myst game walkthroughs as well as that's my next move. I picked up a Myst bundle package through Steam sorta recently so am working my way through them.

Thanks for this. I really wanted to try and do it myself but I found myself on your video after almost every puzzle. Some stuff really is so hidden!

Many thanks Jordan for this great playthrough. It was quite a journey back in time and I loved that you even told the background stories about many aspects of the game. EDIT: I hope you find the motivation to do Myst 3, 4 and 5 playthrough aswell

Thanks for posting this.

I love how you took the notes on camera for this playthrough. You draw the straightest lines ever lol It was really nice that you explained a lot of the clues and everything to help make them understandable. I really enjoyed this one :)

thanks very much for this entertaining walkthrough!

what a trip down memory lane, i got this on christmas 97 just like you (but a couple years older) but had the hardest time figuring out the final puzzle (to me, which was lining up the colors/islands...i couldn't really make out where the domes were with the imager). think I finally beat the game sometime a year later. watching this was a treat, thanks for sharing your playthrough! edit- also, really surprised how much of this game i'd remembered, as I haven't played in easily 20 years. such a fantastic setting and world Cyan created. Id love to see Riven get the Myst overhauls we've seen over the years, not sure why that's never happened!

Love rewatching your Myst series playthroughs. There are some that rush through the games too much, or those that pad out the time by exploring every unnecessary corner and diverting from the path. I already beat the games. I already know how they end. Only one I didn't finish was Uru, because all I played was the public demo. To me these games are highly nostalgic, despite not getting into them till the 2000's. I regret selling off my collector set Riven box. Then again, it was a CD version, and disc swapping was enough to drive me mad in those days.

absolutely love the notepad cam. Genius

i spent a couple hours playing riven.. i got frustrated and came here to see the story play out, im glad i did because i dont believe i could have beaten riven. nice play through.

I thoroughly enjoyed this video. I also got this game on Christmas of 1997 as a 9 year old. It took us a while but my dad and I beat it together. I think we may have cheated to solve the fire marble puzzle and/or the dome combination - I don't remember completely. This remains arguably my favorite adventure game of all time. Everything is just right - the atmosphere, the music, the puzzle difficulty, etc...You can tell the developers really put a lot of thought into creating this world for you to explore. IMHO, the other sequels don't hold up to the level of art encapsulated by the first two games in this series.

Thank you for the playthrough

Riven will be taught in high schools 500 years from now. Nice playthru btw

I never played Myst but got this game as a hand-me-down from a friend who hated it. I got VERY immersed into the game but I have to admit. The 25x25 puzzle with the colored marbles threw me for a loop. I honestly never even noticed the darker lines that outlined the shapes. I searched and searched for a solution for the longest time but nothing made sense because I didn't revisit that platform and see the outlines. I eventually gave up and looked up the solution but never finished the game because I felt so damn cheap in having cheated. Thanks for a comprehensive walkthrough, so that I finally see what I missed.

Great video! Definitely my favourite Myst game. Just finished it for the third time :)

Watched this for about the 10th time. Can't wait for your Uru video.