shinhito

I was obsessed with the Myst series growing up. Myst was the first time I remember sitting down at the computer to play a game (with my parents sitting beside me on fold-up chairs), before that it was gaming consoles and platforming. When Riven came out it was beyond the expectations set by Myst, everything was worn and detailed even from those tiny 608x392 pixel images. 27 years later and this remake comes out and blows away all of my expectations out of the water! Everything is still worn and lovingly crafted and even more detailed at 4K resolution! The one thing I was most surprised by was this wasn’t just a simple remake, many areas and puzzles are shifted or reworked! So it was wonderful to not simply be on autopilot solving puzzles, but like a brand new player I had to work out the solutions all over again! Most are excellent reworkings while keeping the core of the puzzle intact. There’s honestly very little that’s a misstep in this Riven! I would say the biggest flaw in this version is how people are rendered and presented. It makes sense with the move to full 3D and VR that the original FMVs couldn’t be adapter nor reshot for the remake. But I wish that the people weren’t so staunchly placed in the Uncanny Valley! There’s something strange about the rendering/textures and the animations (especially with Ghen’s guard and the finale) seem very disjointed. I only mention it because the world is so realistic and detailed, having the people being so much less so really places a giant spotlight on it. But still, that issue aside, Riven is well worth it for new and old players (old players that keep an open mind)! It’s just such an incredible game that pays loving tribute to the original while also forging its own path!

This is a game unlike any other out there. Original and thought provoking ideas beyond the usual limitations of the medium. Combining the best elements from literature, philosophy, meditation, this game teaches how to look for answers both to the puzzles presented and teaches you how to search, and explores the nature of curiosity. To those that say this game only consists of repetitive puzzles of a singular type, that immediately tells me they barely scratched the surface of this game. Come to this game with an open mind and patience and it will fill your mind with wonder and awe. This is a rare gem **** and deserves all the praise given to it. Amazing.

This is an incredibly robust piece of gaming software. I use the world gaming loosely because this is a fully functional guitar teaching tool. If you are like me, and you have a hand-me down guitar and you've been meaning to start teaching yourself for years, then Rocksmith was pretty much tailor made for you and I. After I set down my guitar after my first session with the game and was making dinner, I just wanted to go back to my guitar. That sort of motivation and excitement that this game provides is priceless, and that combination of emotion is key when learning an new instrument.

If you disregard all of the user reviews that have egregiously bad spelling and grammar (not knowing the diference between there/they're/their, spelling 'paid' as 'pay'd', for example) then only positive reviews are left for this game. Which is as it should be, this game is deserving of all the superlatives being tossed at it. So do yourself a favor and ignore all the idiocy going on in this user review section, and get this game now.