Loved Myst/Riven when I was a kid. Played most of it sitting on my grandpas lap.
I can’t explain why, maybe it’s my current lack of sleep, but I can’t imagine a life where someone has the time to dig so deep into something so recreational. I mean no spite and no insult! This is cool! Maybe I’m just jealous - I spent my day choring and looking after kids - and I will collapse in 2 hours when I’m done with my obligations.
If you find yourself with free time - use it! Create works like this article or like Riven itself. Life is SO short. Make something people want. Apparently I wanted to spend 10 minutes comparing renders from 30 years ago instead of picking up toys!
I still listen to the soundtracks of Myst and Riven by Robyn Miller as background music, it takes me back to the wonderful comfort zone of my 486 DX4 Compaq Presario.
Seeing those game boxes on the store shelves, picking them up and looking at the artwork…
The Cyan intro is pure nostalgia:
"It’s like THX’s estranged brother"
I have the remastered version as my alarm sound:
I had that intro in my head for decades, and also rewatched the "making of" video a bunch of times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBtLZDPnYlM
an alarm on what? maybe the greatest gift an llm could give me is a youtube to iphone ringtone workflow
Alarm sound for my iPhone alarms :)
Just download the audio with yt-dlp and transfer it to your iPhone.
"In iOS 26, you can find and make custom ringtones easily from the Files app by long-pressing an audio file (under 30 seconds) and choosing "Use as Ringtone" from the Share menu, a big simplification from older methods needing GarageBand or a computer."
This is amazing. Works great, and so far the only useful iOS 26 feature. Thank you!
Riven is still breathtaking today. The studio where they made it is amazing https://www.agostudios.com/cyan-inc
This looks neat but I just got into the 2024 remake of Riven so I will read this another day to avoid spoilers. Cool premise though!
I love how the opening paragraph makes a good canonical explanation for what are otherwise continuity errors!
What a wonderful website/project. I love finding one of these obscure deep-dives on the internet.
Updated today, 2026–so the 1997 title is somewhat misleading.
(1997) is in the title to differentiate it from the 2024 remake of the game; "Riven (1997)" is the typical way it's written. It's slightly ambiguous at a quick glance on HN because of how publishing years are commonly added to titles, but given that the year in the HN title isn't at the end, it seems clear enough.
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