Don’t worry, the Riven remake won’t feature any AI-assisted content

By Tomas Franzese March 19, 2024

A screenshot from the Riven remake — Cyan Worlds

Cyan’s classic PC adventure game Riven: The Sequel to Myst is getting an Unreal Engine 5 remake later this year. Although Cyan’s last game experienced controversy surrounding the use of AI content, Cyan confirmed to Digital Trends that the Riven remake does not use any “AI-assisted content.”

Riven: The Sequel to Myst was a 1997 follow-up to a point-and-click adventure game that was a trailblazer in both puzzle game and immersive 3D game design. It continued to refine the formula Cyan established in Myst and is just as beloved by many people as a result. Cyan remade Myst for PC and VR several years ago and teased that Riven was getting the same treatment in 2022. Now, it has re-revealed the remake, highlighted its use of Unreal Engine 5 and gameplay that allows for free movement throughout its 3D environments, and added puzzle and narrative content. None of that will be AI-assisted content, though.

That’s important because Cyan got in hot water last year for the use of what it called “AI-assisted content” in its crowdfunded game Firmament. A message in its credits implied that things like voice acting and written journal entries and logs were made with AI, causing backlash from those who’d crowdfunded the game without knowing this would happen. Cyan had to take to Twitter and clarify that those things weren’t “wholly AI-generated,” but used for modulating a developer’s voice acting and ideation.

“Although individuals on the team did leverage AI tools to help with the development of the contents listed above, absolutely nothing in this small fraction of content for the game was generated and used outright from these services without extensive human oversight and revision,” the studio clarified at the time.

Cyan will avoid this kind of controversy entirely with the Riven remake. Not only do the developers have the original game to base content on, but a PR representative for Cyan confirmed to Digital Trends that Riven will feature no AI-assisted content. Keep that in mind if Firmament’s AI-related controversies left you concerned about Cyan’s next project.

Riven is expected to be released for PC, VR, and other unspecified platforms sometime in 2024.

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Tomas Franzese is a Staff Writer at Digital Trends, where he reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…

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