Riven - The Sequel to Myst

Riven is a graphic puzzle adventure game developed by Cyan Worlds, the highly anticipated sequel to the 1993 bestseller Myst . The story follows the player character, the "Stranger," who helped Atrus escape imprisonment in the previous game. Atrus now calls upon you again to rescue his wife Catherine, who is trapped on the decaying Age of Riven by his power-hungry father, the megalomaniacal Gehn . Gameplay departs from traditional inventory-based adventures to focus entirely on environmental observation and logic. Point-and-click navigation through pre-rendered, first-person still frames reveals thousands of hotspots, while the complex machinery and ancient culture of Riven weave together into one giant, overarching puzzle .

Sega Saturn

The Sega Saturn version of Riven was published by Sega, releasing exclusively in Europe and Japan on June 5, 1998, with the port developed by Sunsoft . Due to the game’s massive scale and extensive animation, the Saturn conversion is spread across four CD-ROMs, often requiring disc swapping during exploration . While the port maintains the game's stunning pre-rendered environments, technical limitations result in significant loss of image quality and clunkier controls compared to the original PC version. Critics noted frustrating loading times and an awkward save system, making navigation feel "slow and clunky" on the Sega hardware . Consequently, this version was overlooked, but it remains a curiosity for collectors as a rare physical testament to Cyan's ambition, despite being widely considered the worst way to experience the atmospheric adventure .