Recent reviews by mogol1

Sonic Generations is the same game as ever. There are a few changes to the cutscenes, and the drop dash from Mania was added, and a new chao hunting mode. But aside from those small additions, it's all the same as the original version. Which isn't a bad thing; the original game, while not my favorite, was pretty solid and didn't really need much revamping. But the Sonic Generations remaster is really just the side dish to Shadow Generations.

Shadow Generations is amazing. The controls feel better than ever, Shadow has some awesome new powers, and the level design is fantastic, being basically as good as Unleashed in my opinion. Shadow also has some cool new powers which help change up the gameplay and make him feel like a distinct character from Sonic, despite their core movesets being the same.

The stages in Shadow Generations are fantastic. I love the choices in stages that they brought over (except for Chaos Island -- seems like a weird choice to add a level from Frontiers), and the level design is better than ever. Stages are linear, but pretty wide open with lots of paths to take. They've really refined the boost formula with this game, and it feels better than ever. Control is tight, and it's easy to control Shadow to get him to go in the direction you want, which has been an issue for me in past boost games.

The hub world isn't exactly my cup of tea, but I don't think it's bad, per se. I disliked the open-world sections of Sonic Frontiers, and while I do think this is an improvement over them, I still don't love it. I do think the formula works better in a smaller, tighter space like this, but I still don't love the execution. I'd really love them to go back to the style they used in Adventure 1, '06, and Unleashed, where it's mostly just for immersion and connecting the stages together.

But despite the few issues I have, I think that this is the best boost formula game Sonic Team has made so far, overtaking Unleashed, with level designs that are just as good as that game, and controls that feel way better to me. To be honest, I've never really been a big fan of the boost formula. I think Unleashed was the best version of it, but even then, I've always preferred the Adventure style gameplay. But Shadow Generations has quickly become my new favorite boost game, and I really think it might overtake Adventure 1 as my favorite 3D Sonic game of all time. If the standard stays as high as it is here, I'm excited for the future of Sonic again, for the first time in nearly 10 years.

I also want to briefly touch on the story; I know a lot of people don't really care about story in these kinds of games, but I've been invested in the Sonic storyline for practically all my life, so I do care about it. Unlike Sonic Generations' story, which is pretty inconsequential, Shadow Generations actually has some really good development for Shadow's character, which could have an impact on his character in future games. I love that the story takes itself seriously, but doesn't become as melodramatic as Forces and Frontiers' stories do. It feels like it's really very similar to the way Adventure 1, 2, and Heroes tell their stories, albeit the story here is much shorter. I also love how they leaned into the edgy aesthetic again, like they did in Shadow the Hedgehog. I find that over-the-top tryhard edgelord stuff to be really charming when it's pulled off properly, and it is here.

I had less-than-amazing feelings about Sonic Frontiers, but Sonic Team has really learned some lessons from that game about what did and didn't work, and they've refined the formula even further. It's taken 16 years, but I think the boost formula is just about perfect at this point. I can't wait to see where the Sonic series goes next, and this is the first time in a long time that I've been able to say that.

its good

I think it's important to start a review of this game by saying that the original 1997 Riven is one of my favorite games ever, and, in my opinion, the best puzzle adventure game ever made. In fact, I don't think any other game in the genre comes especially close. So I was very excited, but also nervous, going into the remake. Would they screw up the puzzles to make them easier? Would they ruin the aesthetic in the name of concessions for VR, as I feel they did a bit in Myst 2021? Would they kill some of the charm of the original FMVs by replacing them with CG models? There was a lot that could go wrong with a remake of the genre's best game. However, my apprehensions were allayed pretty quickly by the demo, and even moreso when I played the full game.

The most important thing to point out, I think, is that this is not a remake of the 1997 game. Not really. There are enough changes that I consider it to be a different experience. While the environments were familiar, nearly every puzzle had some changes implemented, whether major or minor. This led to the game feeling quite fresh to me, even as someone who has played the original several times over. Rather than being a remake, I consider this game a companion piece to the 1997 original. It doesn't replace the original, and I don't think it's intended to. It's a re-interpretation of the classic game. It's not better than the original, but it's not worse than it either. It's simply different.

The sense of place is strong as it ever was in the original game, and learning the culture of the Rivenese people is still crucial to solving one of the two overarching main puzzles. But there are some significant changes to how the puzzles themselves work. The animal puzzle (I won't go into details due to spoilers, but if you've played the original, you know) is completely reworked, and while I know that was partially for VR reasons and accessibility reasons, the new puzzle feels much more well-integrated into the world than the original did.

The other overarching puzzle (again, no spoilers, but if you know you know) was also reworked, though not as heavily as the anumal puzzle. It was definitely simplified in some ways, however I think it was also made more complicated in other ways. This results in a puzzle that was still a challenge for me to solve as an experienced player, and I think that a new player would probably find it equally challenging to the original version.

There are also some minor changes to the overall layout of the islands, including new and reworked areas, and a more defined linear path for the first half of the game. Some of these changes are an improvement, such as the spider chair room. Some, I feel, are a bit of a downgrade, such as the underwater observatory. However, moving these areas around did inspire a sense of discovery that I know I wouldn't have had in a straight remake of the original. And the way they changed the domes was a massive shock, in a good way.

In terms of the CG models, they're fine. I don't think any CG model will ever look as good as FMV footage, but there are definite advantages to using 3D renders, especially in a game with free-roaming real-time 3D and VR support. They're certainly a big improvement over Myst 2021's models. I'm not in love with Atrus' altered dialog, and I think Catherine's new voice isn't as good as the original; however, these aren't deal-breakers to me. They did keep John Keston's original performance as Gehn, which I feel was a great choice. Keston's performance was iconic, and Gehn has by far the most spoken dialog in the game.

Cyan clearly went into this game with a great deal of love and reverence for the original Riven, but they weren't afraid to make changes either. This results in a game that any Riven fan owes it to themselves to play. Even if you end up preferring the original over the new version, I think most players will find that it was worth playing anyway. And if anyone is reading this who played the 2024 version but hasn't played the original, go play it right now. It's only a few bucks on Steam, and you'll love seeing a familiar game interpreted in a different way, just as us OG fans did with the new version. Yes, the point-and-click gameplay and pre-rendered still images are dated, but I think most people will be able to get past it.

Overall, I highly recommend this game to anyone who has played the original, anyone who has played any version of Myst and enjoyed it, and anyone who simply has an interest in puzzle adventure games. It's currently a strong contender for my personal game of the year, and I can't wait to see what Cyan does next.

It's Riven. What more is there to say? It's the best puzzle adventure game ever made. If this is a genre that you're even remotely interested in, you owe it to yourself to play Riven.

Definitely not as good as Obduction or most of the Myst series, but it is still pretty good. The environments are beautiful and there's some really cool interactions with the environment. I was pretty impressed with how they handled loading screens too; I'm not going to spoil the details but it's handled WAY better than Obduction did it. Overall I do recommend this game to puzzle adventure fans, but I wouldn't go in with incredibly high expectations. It's a good game, but it's not a great one.

Riven > Obduction > Myst > Firmament > End of Ages

There are some spoilers in this review. Nothing major like solutions to puzzles, but just general spoilers about the structure of the game.

Aside from Uru, this was the only Myst game left that I hadn't played before. I thought Exile was a really solid continuation from Myst and Riven, so I was excited to see how Revelation would grow from there. Unfortunately, I was left disappointed overall.

I'll start with the positives first: the graphics are amazing. Visually it's a beautiful game, and really it's the natural evolution of the pre-rendered style used back in Myst. Despite being pre-rendered, there's movement in almost every scene, and it really looks beautiful. They finally overcame the feeling that you're really just looking at still images with the occasional Quicktime video overlayed on it. The other positive I found was Rand Miller's performance as Atrus. Since Myst, he's consistently punched above his weight class when it comes to acting. No, it's not the most amazing acting in the world, but it's far better than it really has the right to be, given that Rand is, by his own admission, not an actor.

I wish I could say the same about the other actors. Yeesha is a literal child so I'm willing to excuse her middling performance; yes there are better child actors, but at the end of the day I think she did her best. Sirrus, Achenar, and Catherine, not so much. Catherine's voice acting is absolutely awful in this game; it's a big step down from Exile, which was already a step down from her voice acting in Riven. Sirrus and Achenar are decent, but don't really feel like the same characters from back in Myst. I'd say it's nice to see their story wrapped up, but as far as anyone knew, their story WAS wrapped up in Myst. This game brought them back just for the sake of getting rid of them again, which was really a questionable decision.

The world design is, in my opinion, the worst in the series. Tomahna isn't bad, but Spire and Haven are probably the worst ages in the series, with Serenia not far behind. It's difficult to find interactables, and even if you do find one, you can't just click on it to interact with it anymore, EVERYTHING has to be clicked and dragged, making it more difficult that it really needs to be. Beyond that, the puzzles in this game are really way more intense than the previous games, and feel more arbitrary too. It's a huge step up in difficulty compared to Exile, and not in a good way like how Riven was a step up from Myst.

This game is also slow as molasses. I have the game installed on an SSD, and it still takes several seconds just to move from one node to another. I can't imagine how bad this would be on an HDD. Compared to the previous three games, where screen transitions load instantly on modern hardware, this makes it difficult to even just play the game.

Jack Wall's soundtrack was good, but a little more bombastic than I feel it should be. Exile's soundtrack was already a little bombastic compared to Myst and Riven, but Revelation just takes it too far. The Peter Gabriel song and voice acting were weird but not bad.

The whole plot of the game is pretty messy too. Why are we going to Haven and Spire? Because there's nothing else to do. There's not a particular thing we're looking for, or a particular overarching puzzle that we're trying to solve. We just go there because that's the only path that's open to us. And when I finished these ages, I didn't feel like I really learned anything. Yes, there are hints that you get at the end of each age that help in Serenia, but you don't even realize that they're hints until you get to Serenia. It's not like you're going to Spire and Haven to look for hints to a puzzle that you know you've got to solve; you just happen to find the hints while you're there and then run into the puzzles that you need the hints for.

Overall, I definitely do not recommend this game, even for Myst fans. Riven and Exile both serve as better conclusions to the story, as well as better games overall. Don't waste your time with Revelation. Go play another, better puzzle adventure game like Obduction instead. It'll be much more worth your time.

This is a really great sequel to Myst. I say sequel to Myst, and not to Riven, because it really is structured in basically the same way as Myst, with one "hub" Age and several Ages that you access from there, as opposed to Riven where 95% of the game takes place on one Age. The puzzles in Exile are kind of contrived in a lot of situations, as opposed to the more immersive way they're integrated in Myst and Riven, where they're not explicitly puzzles. However, there's a decent reason for that built into the game: they were "lesson ages" designed to teach Atrus' sons lessons about writing Ages, so the puzzles were explicitly built as puzzles by Atrus. It still feels a bit lame despite the explanation, but it's forgivable.

In regards to the Ages themselves, there is one that I'd consider outstanding, one that I'd consider very good, and one that I'd consider awful. That's Amateria, Voltaic, and Edanna respectively. Edanna's faults lie solely on the graphics. The puzzles themselves are fine; I've got no problem with their design. But there are multiple paths that are nearly invisible, and it makes navigation in that Age incredibly obnoxious. More than once, I got totally lost because I couldn't find paths that I'd been down multiple times already. Edanna alone almost makes me wish for a modern remake of this game in realtime 3D. I'd say the overall difficulty falls somewhere between Riven and Myst. Riven is definitely tougher, with its game-spanning environmental puzzles. But Exile does feel a bit trickier than Myst. It's hard to say how much of that is due to my unfamiliarity with this game compared to Myst, which I've beaten dozens of times.

Graphically, Exile is really nice. I'd say Riven actually looks a little nicer, for the most part, but certain skyboxes and lighting interactions really impressed me in Exile. I'm also a really big fan of the "sphere based" navigation system. It makes the game feel a bit closer to being realtime 3D, while still allowing them to pre-render the graphics, to make it look far better than a realtime game could back in 2001. It's super nice to be able to look around in any direction, it feels much more immersive. It feels like the perfect balance between pre-rendered slideshows and realtime 3D environments.

Overall this is a really good game that captures the Myst spirit far better than I expected it to, given that it wasn't developed by Cyan. The ending of Riven really kind of wraps the Myst story up nicely, but I'd definitely consider Exile a worthy sequel, and I'd recommend it to any Myst/Riven fan who's been hesitant to try the sequels.

oh and shoutout Brad Dourif

Not a whole lot to say about this version of Myst, to be honest. It's not the original, but it's not the newest version with the nicest graphics either. The main thing this version has going for it is that it's got real-time graphics, but also has a point-and-click movement option, which for some reason was left out of the 2021 remake. It's also a bit more loyal to the original than the 2021 version is. The "magic" aesthetic hasn't been replaced with more mechanized versions like in the 2021 version. The book to Selenetic and back from Stoneship are still magic-feeling, for example.

To be honest, that's the main reason to pick this version over Myst Masterpiece or Myst 2021; the modern presentation that still has the loyalty to the aesthetics of the original. But unless that's super important to you, I'd pick one of the other versions. The original and most modern versions are both on Steam, and are probably the two best ways to play Myst these days.

It's the original version of Myst (well it's got a slightly higher color depth but it's effectively the original version). What's not to like? Sure, there are newer versions with real-time graphics, and modern WASD movement, and an extra age, and VR support. There are more modern ways to play this game. But none of those are the original that started it all. Even if you got started on one of the remakes (like I did), you owe it to yourself to experience what the original was like. You might still find yourself preferring the newer versions, but you won't regret seeing what it was like all those years ago.

If you like the Myst series or similar puzzle adventure games, you'll probably enjoy Obduction. It's hard to review without getting into spoilers, but there's a really interesting and clever mechanic that the game uses really well. They do get a little "cute" with that mechanic towards the end of the game, which is unfortunate because it involves a loading screen every time. Even on an SSD, it's a lot of loading in that section. The puzzle there is actually really clever but technical limitations totally ruin it. That's really the only puzzle I take issue with though, the rest are pretty intuitive for the most part. They're not too difficult, and my first playthrough took me roughly 10 hours.

In terms of story, it's there if you're interested in it, but if you're not you can pretty much skip it. I think it's a decent story but I really play these kinds of games for the puzzles and aesthetics more than the story. It is nice to see Robyn Miller in a main character role, especially after Rand got such a big role in the Myst series.

Speaking of Myst, that's the obvious comparison here; this is Cyan's first adventure puzzle game since Myst V: End of Ages. How does it rank compared to the rest of the series? Well I haven't played Revelation or Uru, so I won't include those, but I have played Myst, Riven, Exile, and End of Ages. Obduction is very firmly above End of Ages, in just about every way. Gameplay, story, characters, puzzles, graphics (duh on that one), are all a really big improvement over Myst 5. Myst is more nostalgic than Obduction, but if I ignore that and take a more objective look, I find myself preferring Obduction. Then Riven goes at number one, because a more perfect puzzle adventure game than Riven doesn't exist.

Edit: Since playing Obduction, I've also played Firmament, so I've added that to the TL;DR.

TL;DR: Riven > Obduction > Myst > Firmament > End of Ages.