Riven on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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Uncover a story of intrigue, betrayal, and a civilization teetering on the brink of collapse as you solve intricate puzzles to unlock the secrets of Riven. Built from the ground-up and expanded from the award-winning original game released in 1997.
Riven is a puzzle, adventure and exploration game
developed and published by Cyan Worlds Inc.
Released on June 25th 2024 is available on Windows and MacOS
in 11 languages: English, French, Italian, German, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese and Spanish - Latin America.
It has received 2,413 reviews of which 2,242 were positive and 171 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.9 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 33.99€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Riven into these genres:
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10 or 11
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Eight-Core Processor (16 CPUs), ~3.7GHz; Intel i5 7000 series
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 5700XT; NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB; at least 6GB VRAM
- DirectX: Version 12
- Storage: 30 GB available space
- VR Support: Quest 2 over Airlink or Link cable, HTC Vive Pro, Valve Index
- Additional Notes: Note that laptops with a 3050 or 3050 Ti GPU do not fit the requirements of the above. We recommend checking your preferred PC Benchmark site to confirm if your specs meet or exceed the above.
MacOS
- OS: macOS Sonoma 14.5
- Processor: Apple Silicon
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: Apple Silicon
- Storage: 36 GB available space
- Additional Notes: M-series MacBook Air
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
EDIT (2025.06.17): After playing the Myst remake (2021), I would suggest playing that game first before playing this one. It'll improve the overall world building experience and make a lot of this game make more sense. I think Riven is a better overall game, but Myst does a good job introducing the series and introducing the general gameplay loop/puzzle structure. Was recommended to me by my wife who had played (but did not finish) the 1997 original. I never played the 1997 original and would consider the prequel Myst after my experience with this game. Positives: - Great visuals and voice acting. - Good world building, easy to immerse yourself into. - Good puzzles, nothing too over-the-top in difficulty. Negatives: - Can be hard to notice interactable buttons and levers, causing you to get stuck by not looking twice in an area. - Missable achievements. - A few crashes on my PC while running an Intel processor (solved this by underclocking my CPU using Intel Extreme Tuning Utility) Suggestions: - Make multiple manual saves to allow for back-tracking, to allow for getting 100% completion in a single playthrough. - Take notes by both using the screenshot functionality and on pen and paper, refrain from looking up solutions as your notes will provide the answers once you've explored enough. Really refrain from looking up solutions until you're really stuck and make sure you've checked around areas for any buttons/levers you've missed.
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Absolute must play. Ignore the negative reviews, as far as I can see, they are all people with skill issues (people that don't have the patience to focus for 2 seconds), people with self-inflicted technical issues, or people who want to complain that the game was changed to be too easy but don't want to put two seconds of thought into it to realize that the game is easy for them because they remember the original and therefore already know how to solve the puzzles, removing half of the challenge of the game. It's really, really excellent. Don't go into it expecting quite the same experience as Myst, though. In Myst, you solve a puzzle to open a door. In Riven, opening the door IS the puzzle, sometimes literally.
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Grew up playing these games since they first came out in the 90's and this is a big departure from the original game. Tons of nods to the original while offering up enough differences to subvert expectations and keep me having a blast the whole way through. -- meaning -- this is a ton of fun no matter if you've played the original or not; easily recommended for any puzzle fan.
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This is a very difficult game to rate. Very well produced, and fantastic to play, but the puzzles give little hint as to they should be solved. The game requires a real investment of time and patience. Some puzzles are obvious and in your face, others are deviously hidden. I'm going to rate the game as a "yes" but with the very serious warning that this isn't a game for the casual puzzler!
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My feelings about whether the original or the remake of Riven is better are, well... themselves riven. Both of them are wonderful experiences. They are also flawed in differing ways, and regardless of the technical limitations both face, there are things gained and lost in both from their creative/puzzle/story aspects. Regardless, I wholeheartedly recommend both. That's the gist of my review, really. Below are the messy details... As of my current hardware setup, the most efficient way to travel through the age of Riven is through the Steam release of the original. With the remake on my 3070, the time it takes for each island to load is about the time it would take to change out a CD, an ironic echo of the 5-CD release I first played the game with. The lore of Riven in the remake is more compact. It takes much reading outside the original to make complete sense of what's going on, but I believe the changes in the remake streamline the important information into the game significantly. In terms of a self-contained game, the remake is more coherent of itself. The changed puzzles overall make for a fairer difficulty. The original's puzzles are almost impossibly difficult, but figuring out how everything connected in the original was more of the fun of Riven for me. Knowing the solutions off a guide and meeting those solutions and my understanding why in the middle - seeing how organically cohesive everything was - has been fascinating. For me, that is the unique replay value of the original Riven. Arguably, that's really esoteric, and I welcome the argument that the remake as a puzzle game overall flows better. Part of that flow in the remake comes from not being limited to a point-and-click interface. Exploring Riven in real-time and especially VR has been a dream of mine for years. It's absolutely cathartic to do so. The original falls completely short in this regard. That said, where the remake pales graphically to the original is some tiny nuances in some of the pre-rendered animations of the original - little details that are some of the most memorable parts of the game. I don't mean changes in the puzzles at all - just graphical/artistic things that lose a lifelike, minute fineness from the original. I would argue though that other details like the textures and some other scenery-based changes/additions overall are more lifelike in this remake. For the most part, where the already compelling "naturalistic uncanny valley" artstyle of the original isn't matched, the remake has elements that look even more attractively convincing. The sound design of the original, while lower quality and technically limited to choppy soundscape transitions, has more nuanced personality in my opinion. This goes back to the hair-splitting degree of fineness in little moments of the original. They might seem pedantically pretentious to bring up, but those little elements are at the heart of what I carry with me from my experience of the original. Speaking of graphics and nuances in the original: no 3D rendition will match John Keston's live acting as Gehn in the original. I believe the same can be said for all the other iconic performances. I feel even Rand Miller's acting as Atrus is more convincing in the original. It's definitely a gravitational pull I feel away from the remake. All that to say, it's impossible for me to value one over the other. Both games feel like two different, surreal lenses of the same mystifying world. At best, for someone new, I would recommend them start with the remake, and if they're still interested go for the original. Otherwise, Riven - as a collective of both iterations of the game - stands among my favorite games and most formative artistic experiences.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Riven is currently priced at 33.99€ on Steam.
Riven is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 33.99€ on Steam.
Riven received 2,242 positive votes out of a total of 2,413 achieving a rating of 8.88.
😎
Riven was developed and published by Cyan Worlds Inc.
Riven is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Riven is playable and fully supported on MacOS.
Riven is not playable on Linux.
Riven is a single-player game.
There are 2 DLCs available for Riven. Explore additional content available for Riven on Steam.
Riven does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
Riven supports Remote Play on TV. Discover more about Steam Remote Play.
Riven is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Riven.
Data sources
The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 06 September 2025 03:24 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 04 September 2025 15:40 |
| Steam price | 13 September 2025 12:50 |
| Steam reviews | 13 September 2025 08:08 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Riven, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Riven
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Riven concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Riven compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
11
Developer
Cyan Worlds Inc
Publisher
Cyan Worlds Inc
Release
25 Jun 2024
VR
VR Supported
Platforms
Remote Play