The PC box art for Riven showcases Richard Vander Wende's concept of what players would first see on the Age of Tay.[6]
Developer(s)
Cyan Sunsoft (PS, SS)
Publisher(s)
Red Orb Entertainment
Red Orb Entertainment (PC, Mac)
NA: Acclaim Entertainment (PlayStation)
EU: Sega (Saturn) / Acclaim Entertainment (PlayStation)
Mean Hamster Software (Pocket PC)
Noodlecake Studios (Android)
Director(s)
Robyn Miller Richard Vander Wende
Producer(s)
Rand Miller
Designer(s)
Robyn Miller Richard Vander Wende
Programmer(s)
Richard A. Watson
Composer(s)
Robyn Miller
Series
Myst
Platform(s)
Mac OS, Windows, PlayStation, Saturn, Pocket PC, iOS, Android
Release
October 31, 1997
Mac/Win
WW: October 31, 1997[1]
PlayStation
NA: December 22, 1997[2]
EU: February 1998
Sega Saturn
EU: June 5, 1998[3]
Pocket PC
NA: December 20, 2005
iOS
WW: January 12, 2011[4]
Android
WW: April 26, 2017[5]
Genre(s)
Graphic adventure
Mode(s)
Single-player
Riven: The Sequel to Myst is a puzzle adventure video game, the second in the Myst series of games. Developed by Cyan Worlds, it was initially published by Red Orb Entertainment, a division of Broderbund. Riven was distributed on five compact discs and released for Mac and Windows personal computers on October 31, 1997, in North America; it was later released on a single DVD-ROM in 1998.[7]Riven was also ported to several other platforms. The story of Riven is set after the events of Myst. Having been rescued from the efforts of his sons, Atrus enlists the help of the player character to free his wife from his power-hungry father, Gehn. Riven takes place almost entirely on the Age of Riven, a world slowly falling apart due to Gehn's destructive rule.
Development of Riven began soon after Myst became a success, and spanned more than three years. In an effort to create a visual style distinct from that of Myst, director Robyn Miller and his brother, producer Rand Miller recruited former Aladdin production designer Richard Vander Wende as a co-director. Broderbund employed a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to publicize the game's release.
Riven was praised by reviewers, with the magazine Salon proclaiming that the game approaches the level of art. Critics positively noted the puzzles and immersive experience of the gameplay, though publications such as Edge felt that the nature of point-and-click gameplay limited the title heavily. The best-selling game of 1997, Riven sold 1.5 million copies in one year. After the game's release, Robyn Miller left Cyan to form his own development studio, ending the professional partnership of the two brothers. Rand stayed at Cyan and continued to work on Myst-related products including The Myst Reader and the real-time rendered game Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. The next entry in the Myst series, Myst III: Exile, was developed by Presto Studios and published by Ubisoft. A remake of the game is in development.
^"Red Orb Entertainment Press October 1997 - The World Of Riven: The Sequel To Myst, Is Ready For Visitors". Red Orb Entertainment. October 30, 1997. Archived from the original on June 10, 1998. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
"Red Orb Entertainment...announces the domestic and international availability of the Cyan Inc. production Riven: The Sequel to Myst...Riven will be featured at retail starting tomorrow [October 31]."
^Johnston, Chris (December 22, 1997). "Acclaim Ships PlayStation Riven". GameSpot. Archived from the original on February 21, 1999. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
^"sega-europe.online". December 2, 1998. Archived from the original on December 2, 1998. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
^"iOS Riven! The Stunning Sequel to Myst is Here". CyanWorlds.com. January 12, 2011. Archived from the original on August 8, 2011. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
^Callaham, John (April 26, 2017). "Riven, the sequel to Myst, is now available to explore on Android". Android Authority. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
^Cite error: The named reference making of riven was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"News Briefs". IGN. August 12, 1998. Archived from the original on March 5, 2000. Retrieved December 6, 2019. "Broderbund is becoming one of the first game companies to jump on the DVD platform, with a DVD release of Riven: The Sequel to Myst...
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