I've wasted some time on Riven, which is now the third Myst-like game I've wasted time on this year, the other two being Obduction and Quern. I would rank them like this:
Riven > Obduction >>> Quern
Obduction was my introduction to the genre, and I was impressed by how the puzzles were integrated into the world and the story. The game always made an effort to have everything make sense. It often didn't feel like I was solving puzzles, just trying to "turn on the power", for example, to do X. In order to progress in the game you need to learn more about the world, the characters, how everything works, and why you are there. Much of it revolves around an interesting core gimmick which later requires some 4th-dimensional thinking. There were some unfortunate missteps, however, like the maze at the end, which made good use of the mechanics, but it also made little to no sense and was poorly paced. The long load times didn't help either. A fairly modern PC with an SSD is recommended. But overall I enjoyed Obduction, and it left me wanting more.
Then, many people were recommending
Quern, some were even claiming it was better than Obduction. Steam reviews were also very positive, so I gave it a shot. I don't know what these people were smoking, but I could not have been more disappointed. It's the total opposite of Obduction in every way. There is no overarching puzzle to solve or mechanic to discover, and none of the puzzles make any sense whatsoever. It's like opening random pages of a puzzle book, most of them being boring and on the easier side. The story is also uninspired, the writing bland.
This letter from a major character in the game reads like it was written by the puzzle designer. Even the art design is so mediocre, everything actually looks
grey! It's as if they tried to make this game as mediocre as possible, a perfect 5/10. I got so bored that I didn't even finish it, which is a rare thing for me. Watched the ending on youtube, and was glad I quit.
And now,
Riven. There seems to be a consensus among fans that, if you are going to play only one game from the Myst series, it ought to be Riven. I've read a summary of Myst before I jumped in, just to get the gist of what was going on. And yeah, Riven does everything I liked about Obduction, but better. Once again, solving puzzles is more about understanding the world and less about solving rubik cubes. At one point I was almost going mad, until I finally understood the purpose of a certain machine. Then everything started to fall into place. The pre-rendered graphics are still nice to look at today, and even the acting was surprisingly good for a video game of that time. I enjoyed Gehn's monologues. One thing I would criticize are the big info dumps, especially one particular journal that seemed to go on forever. After about 50 or so pages I just wanted to move on with the game.
I should try Myst at some point.