simpleRiven | Official Launch Trailer | Available June 25th
ExcrubulentThere is a “puzzle” in Riven that I got stuck on for hours, just searching the map looking for anything that I had left to do. I couldn’t find any more interactable things that hadn’t been done. Then I looked it up and found it was a door that you had to enter, turn around and close and then go through the hidden passageway behind it. There was no puzzling value to it being hidden like that, it was something you either simply found or didn’t. I put it down to old-style game design that hadn’t yet learned what not to do in a somewhat open world game.
Honestly this iteration could move the entrance like one metre to the left so it’s not hidden and it would be a better game for it.
UnrealRealityXAs a nod to this, there is a part in Obduction that does the same thing. If you’ve never played it, it’s well worth it. Just keep the “cyan brain” on when you play!
I have played through that and I don’t remember that part, did they make it easier to find or something? I’d be shocked if they left it the same, it really sucked.
It was easier I guess because it was a 3d world. But it was ::: spoiler spoiler
in Farleys house. When you go in through the back after you input the security code, that door stays open. When you close it from the inside, it reveals a tunnel that (eventually with seeds) leads to her private area with her things.
:::
Actually the 3d thing makes a lot of sense. I had a walk around the new Myst game recently and everything’s location was so much clearer when you weren’t navigating it through static screens.
Same when we went through myst as well, the masterpiece one, not the new one.
Despite the limitations though, riven had an absurd amount of “views” or screens to give you the feeling that you were there. When I revisited it, I was afraid after the full 3d version, the kids and I wouldn’t adapt to the still frames, but they held up surprisingly well!