Riven is awesome in VR, better than Myst VR and Firmament VR. My rating for now is 9/10. The game is 10% off until 9 July:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1712350/Riven/
The game works great in VR, but you need a fast gpu for optimal graphics. In this game, motion smoothing is your friend, not your enemy 🙂
I tested the game using RTX 3090, i9 10900K, 32GB 3200MHz and Win10 Pro - and I used Index 80 Hz to push res to the max. I'm using res 400%, DLSS Performance, and the Epic graphics setting. With motion smoothing enabled, the games looks amazing and feels like 80 fps - or close enough.
Extreme res is needed to reduce the DLSS blur - and the blur is nearly gone with res 400%.
I took a few screenshots while playing the game - click on an image to enlarge:
Great view distance, awesome graphics and a captivating story - maybe Cyan's best VR game so far
You start here - on an desolated island, and you only carry a few notes. Like in Myst VR, you have full locomotion and snap/smooth turning
Some environments feel magical - or like being on a vacation 🙂 The PCVR version requires a fast rig to shine, graphics are lightyears ahead of the standalone Quest version
Npcs look amazing in the game - I'm not sure Alyx did that better. Note the dynamic shadow
Another highly detailed npc, also note the textures
Some hologram with nice face and skin details
The game world feels more alive than usually - here are some sea animals
Another example of life forms - it'll take off and fly away in a second
An example of the vast view distance. You start at the golden dome seen in the horizon
Some rooms are very impressive
Impressive textures - see the tiny imperfections and scratches in the golden beetle. I'm using the in-game Epic graphics setting
Textures might not be 4K res, but look great nonetheless
One dude said Riven had the most beautiful water, and it does look great - and there are fish in the water
The light looks hdr-ish in some places, even if it's not
An example of the amazing real-time lighting. Generally graphics are better in Riven VR than in Myst VR. System requirements are slightly higher in Riven VR, but not much
Another great example of realtime lighting
Some dynamic shadows. Mostly indoor shadows still are displayed incorrectly like in Firmament VR, but most outdoor shadows work
Cyan often makes me feel like a chimp trying to solve a Rubik's Cube
No need to visit museums anymore to enjoy art, Riven has it all 😉
Another strange room, where Cyan excels at creating a great atmosphere. There are many mysteries to solve in Riven - can't wait to be back 🙂
It's probably the best adventure game ever released in VR - big words, but Cyan really came through with Riven. Obduction may still be my favorite for the story, but Riven is the more immersive adventure - also fueled by the graphics.
Riven took me by surprise - I was not expecting a new reference game by Cyan. Seems this year really is heating up - might be tough finding the PCVR GOTY this year 🙂
GamingTrends tested Riven in VR and rated the game a solid 100%:
Quote "If you’ve got the gear for it, Riven also supports VR right out of the box. It’s a completely different experience, and now with the tactile elements of VR, it’s more immersive than ever. The puzzles are the same, but being able to reach out and touch them is something else. As a small non-spoiler example, when you are first learning about one of the major characters of Riven, you see five small golden beetles in a chamber. Pulling a string with a ring on it causes the beetles to unfurl their wings, revealing a small magnifying glass. Inside you can see a small pictograph that reveals some story elements. Clicking on the string is one thing, and the wings snap open fully when you do. Doing it in VR means slowly pulling them open gradually as you pull the string, unfurling the wings as fast as you pull them. Being able to do it in VR…just wow."
https://gamingtrend.com/feature/reviews/riven-2024-review-a-masterpiece-remastered/
Thanks to lackluster quality assurance and control, with the v66 update Meta effectively killed controller support for all Rift CV1 users in Riven - and in other OpenXR games. There are some work-arounds as mentioned in this thread:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1712350/discussions/0/4344366409320482431/
For those trying to use the V65 files to replace the faulty V66 files, note that this completely disabled my ability to super-sample (Debug Tool and Oculus Tray Tool no longer working) - so pick your poison carefully until Meta gets this fixed.
And a few more shots 🙂
Traveling under the sea is a very special experience 🙂
My visit to Boiler Island, my brain is still trying to figure out what I should do here...
The closest I could get to the sea animals 🙂
Btw, Rift CV1 - when working properly - may be a great hmd for this game, as DLSS looks sharp and not blurry with the Rift CV1 - really hope Meta gets this fixed soon!
I am starting to seriously think I ate too few vitamins as a kid 🤔 😬 - my brain must be underdeveloped, sometimes I'm just totally stuck in Riven, sigh.
Not happy to admit it - but I got help. This walk-through is kinda awesome;
I only got help once (at least for now, lol) - and it brought me here:
Yup, my RTX 3090 is anything but cold in Riven 🙂 Check out the beach/sand and water quality:
The water looks so much better when moving in the game - but I guess you get the idea.
Also met a damsel in distress - and she was not happy, and I could not yet free her:
This also shows the quality of the npcs - and facial expressions. Some are not happy for the npcs in Riven, I think it's some of the best we have in VR. But the original Riven npcs were real actors shown in small movie clips, and of course no 3D model looks like a real human. Still I have no complaints about the npcs - they all looks amazing to me, also when they move.
I've rarely seen more high-end VR than Riven - but I guess I'm basically running the 2D version in 2 x 80 fps, lol - this simply looks beyond amazing:
It must have been some sort of programming hell getting everything cut down for the Quest version - RoadToVR did write in their Riven review of the Quest version: "It also seems Cyan is throwing the entire toolbox of Quest performance tricks at you at all times, including what feels like always-on asynchronous spacewarp and glaringly obvious fixed foveated rendering". It start to make sense - Quest 3 only has about 2 tflops - my oc'ed RTX 3090 is about 20 times faster, and I can barely get 40 fps using high res and Epic graphics settings.
Some more screenshots from the island I just discovered 🙂
These images also show the very high level of polygons used in the PC version:
- and just when you though the game could not get any more beautiful, Cyan gives me this 🙂
Note the still and transparent water in this cave.
Some textures are also very high res - like these butterflies:
Riven still is a 10/10 - maybe even 12/10 - there's nothing better within the adventure genre in VR.
