We played through the entirety of the Riven remake's demo, and came away with three thoughts:
- They've changed bits and pieces of Riven's layout, to the point where we were running around like a headless chicken at the beginning of the game. As someone who's played Riven several times in the past, it was kinda magic to return and not immediately know what to do! They're playing with expectation, and that's exciting.
- We've groused about remakes before, but we have to admit it: walking around Riven, getting to see iconic locations from all-new angles, is pretty delightful!
- Cyan's decision to replace the FMV actors with CG models is an undeniable downgrade, even if the FMV wouldn't work with this new approach. Like...just look at the difference between 2024 Atrus and 1997 Atrus! And on some level, we get it, right? Cyan as it exists today cannot afford the same graphical fidelity as Epic or EA. But it's truly sucked the atmosphere right out of one of the best opening cutscenes we've ever seen, and that's truly a bummer.
Anyway! We will do our best to go into the full game with an open mind. We're just skeptical that it will stand up to one of the greatest games ever made.