Introduction
Riven, the Sequel to Myst (that's its full title) was released to with much hype and received with critical acclaim in the heady days of dial-up internet, late 1997. And, as sequels go, its a pretty impressive one. While it still used the still images and point and click gameplay of its predecessor, the detailed images and atmospheric soundtrack filled a whopping 5 CDs upon release.
To be frank, I don't think you need to know much about the original Myst to keep up with this game. But if you want a good look at the previous game, Magnatux's LP is pretty good and on the LParchive.
I consider Riven to be a better, more thoughtful game than Myst, though I will freely admit, its expectations for solving its puzzles are... cerebrally intense. It is first and foremost an exploration game, though, and I hope I can at least somewhat convey the atmosphere and wonder the game provokes.
To that end, this is gonna be a narrative LP with rather considerable transcript help from https://www.mystwiki.com, in the style of a journal. It only seemed appropriate, given the source material.
And... well... also because when I was a wee tot, I had this:
The Riven Prima Strategy guide had a soulless walkthrough to get you through the puzzles and to the end of the game... but it also had the Complete Riven Journal. An in character journey through the game, examining the artwork, figuring out the puzzles piece by piece, and reacting to the events. It was a Lets Play before the term Lets Play, and it sucked me into the Myst series in a time when my little head was barely developed enough to appreciate it.
So along with the updates, I'm going to include Lore posts about the Myst series, its characters, settings, and backgrounds. After
So with the introduction out of the way, let's begin.
Entry 1 - Introduction
Entry 2 - Atrus' Journal
Entry 3 - The Gateroom
Entry 4 - The Temple
Entry 5 - Entering the Village
Entry 6 - Exploring the Lake
Entry 7 - The School and the Tower
Entry 8 - The Prison
Entry 9 - The Viewing Room
Entry 10 - Finding the Resistance
Entry 11 - Catherine's Journal
Entry 12 - The Caldera Lake
Entry 13 - Connecting the Islands
Entry 14 - Gehn's Workshop
Entry 15 - D'ni Numerology
Entry 16 - Solving the Dome
Entry 17 - Gehn and Catherine
Entry 18 - The 233rd Age
Entry 19 - The Star Fissure
Extras - Star Fissure Bad Endings
Extras - Prison Book Bad Endings
Lore: Myst Summary
Lore: The Art
Lore: The D'ni
Lore: Atrus
Lore: Catherine and Riven
Appendix: D'ni Language
Lore: Gehn, Anna, and the Fall of the D'ni
Edit: Oh, and, since this is a complex game with lots of information to discover and plenty of big ol' plot elements I'm going to go ahead and say
No Spoilers, even if the game is nearly two decades old. Mostly because its become a bit forgotten and I imagine there are people younger than the game itself on the board these days.