recently cyan announced a full re-make of riven. im excited. they said it will be free-roam and presumably will have an on-rails option as well. i would have preferred on-rails only really -- the world is more romantic when your view of it is limited.
im disappointed in cyan. for decades (?) after riven they just made weird mobile games and remasters of their old games that werent any good, broken even. then they made obduction and got back to business and they are currently working on another new game called firmament (?). i wish they had just kept making original titles for all those years and maybe released a string of really good, well-thought out remasters to keep the coffers full. ive seen obduction playthroughs and i didnt really like it. the world isnt as good. and it has a sappy environmental message as its central moral and theme. also, its not pre-rendered. it should be pre-rendered because thats whats best for a world-based, environmental story-telling based game like this. the idea is that you are unwrapping a little gemstone inside your computer. youre peering into another world. you dont get that effect at all in fucking unreal engine.
i was passing through the area so i thought i would visit cyan worlds headquarters or at least just pass by and see their famous inside-out door that serves as the main entrance. it was winter so things were rather bleak. i thought my maps app had made a mistake but there it was, telling me to turn off of a very busy and ugly "stroad" to arrive immediately at cyan. i had always imagined cyan being tucked away somewhere in the rugged tree-filled vista of beautiful washington. but its right off a super busy highway essentially, not tucked away in anything in any sense. so i turn off and drive up and there is a very substantial gate, the kind that slides back and forth, made of thick galvanized steel. it was clearly intended to keep people the fuck out and it was covered in signs that i only caught a glimpse of but none of them were inviting people in. and the funny thing is that the gate was fully retracted leaving wide open the way to the parking lot. naturally i drove in. the parking lot was very small. i parked near the back and approached the famous door but kept my distance. on my way there several of the parked cars that i passed beeped and clicked as people inside locked them with their keyfobs. that made it very clear that i was not welcome. as i walked on i could see that offices were right up on the front of the building and their windows overlooked the parking lot and the entire building is probably looking at me with concern. it was completely claustrophobic, totally unlike how i had imagined. so i stood there like an idiot and took a selfie with the door, at a great distance, and left.