Puzzle games are super tricky to make. That magic of feeling relieved balancing with I have no clue what’s even going on, is quite a hard one to make yet I’m happy to say that Riven delighted that balance in my head. Hi my name is phant0m and these are my thoughts on Riven.
Visuals
First thing you’ll notice is how amazing everything looks! A colorful realistic world awaits you here, structures look awesome, foliage looks great, and a special shout out to the water which looks pretty damn amazing! There weren’t many flaws in this aspect which is normal for puzzle games, but this is different; the game also runs amazingly even when I maxed out the settings! Which means it performs great while the graphics look stunning!
Gameplay
Now I have to start this by saying I’m not the biggest puzzle enjoyer, mostly because I’m very slow. But I had a decent time here, getting through these. First major problem I experienced was on the behalf of spending 30 minutes of my total playtime trying to take off a locked door that had such a simple answer that I legitimately got so upset. But that was my fault, since everything else didn’t seem as close to as dumb as me figuring out the first little section. The puzzles do lack that feeling of aha! At times but when there are ones that make you feel that way, it did make me feel much better! Outside of that there isn’t more to the gameplay, just puzzles taking up most of the experience.
Story
The story of this game didn’t intrigue me much, from the concept to the way it’s told I just couldn’t help but not want to pay attention, every scene it felt like I was spacing out and maybe that was due to the spotty voice acting or the quality of the audio itself that maybe just threw me off, because the presentation didn’t seem bad, it felt ok. The scenes made sense, and the writing isn’t horrible, but at the end of the day this story was maybe just too confusing to attach me anywhere. Now that I think of it the story held close to very similar aspects for any time something was happening on screen and it was a lack of extra choices than im just watching them do something.
Characters/Music
The characters in the game at least did a better job of intriguing me, their designs looked cool and I could appeal to the small number of people in this game, although not voice acted the best they are definitely still believable, especially because of their motives. And the music was pretty alright, although not present in every moment when it is there it does add to the story’s entertainment or increases how much fun you have while solving a puzzle.
Performance
As stated earlier the performance of the game is insane for the level of fidelity here! I was hitting around 100 fps on this beautiful adventure on an rx6750 xt intel i5 13400f PC, including the fact that I was playing on maxed out settings! With not Crashes or frame dips, Which is absolutely stellar!
Verdict
Anyways if you’re wondering I do recommend this game, it makes you think, and at times makes you feel like you’re excelling while also giving you moments of feeling like an idiot. I give it an 8/10 with the only negatives lying in its storytelling and voice acting. Those were my thoughts on Riven. Thx for reading! 🙂 Keep doing great things! You’re good at them. Bye!
