Riven: The Sequel to Myst is Getting an Unreal Engine 5 Remake That Could Include VR Support

Riven: The Sequel to Myst, is getting a remake that is set to be released sometime this year and could potentially include VR support.

The original game was released in 1997 and was a puzzle-adventure game developed by Cyan. It lets players explore a world filled with islands that have been ripped apart by mysterious forces and an ancient civilization that has the power to create bridges between worlds with books.

A Riven Remake

A remake for the 1997 game Riven is reportedly being made using Epic's Unreal Engine 5 and will potentially have VR support.
(Photo : Cyan / Screenshot taken from official website)

Players will be able to pull levers, push buttons, and unlock doors in search of answers as well as read journals that were left behind by the people who used to live in Riven. The original game had photorealistic graphics that were on par with its era's Hollywood movies and the narrative complexity of a novel.

However, many people considered it to be more than just a technical marvel and described it as a life-changing experience the narrative director at Gearbox Software and a co-writer on Borderlands 3, Sam Winkler, said that he can directly trace his path to the gaming industry back to the 1997 Riven game, according to GameInformer.

The lead editor of Netflix's Castlevania series, David Howe, said that he would often credit Myst and Riven as the main inspiration for his creativity today. Jeff Stewart, who is an engineering lead on Diablo IV, said that Riven was the "single most inspirational game" that he had ever had the chance to play.

But a few months after Riven came out on Oct. 31, 1997, the game's three creative leads parted ways before it sold 4.5 million copies and became the runner-up to Myst as the best-selling PC game of all time until 2002.

Nearly three decades after the release of the original game, the developer who voiced the franchise's protagonist Atrus, Rand Miller, reached out to Vander Wende, the co-director of the original Riven, and asked, "If you could change anything about Riven, pie-in-the-sky, what would you change?"

New Content With Better Graphics

Cyan also confirmed that the new Riven remake will not be using any "AI-assisted content," which comes after controversy surrounding the company's last game. A few years ago, Cyan remade Myst for PC and had VR support while also teasing the Riven remake in 2022, said DigitalTrends.

The revelation is crucial because the company was criticized last year for the use of "AI-assisted content" in its crowdfunded game Firmament. There was a message in the game's credits that implied that things such as voice acting and written journal entries and logs were made using AI.

This caused backlash among the community, especially from those who had crowdfunded the game as they had no knowledge this would happen. The company later said that the game content was not entirely generated using AI, noting that the technology was used for modulating a developer's voice acting and ideation.

With Unreal Engine 5, Cyan hopes to utilize Epic's game development tool to offer players an unparalleled level of immersion. The Riven remake is said to feature new puzzles and expanded storylines on top of the UE5-powered graphics, according to WCCFTech.