[LichenStone]

Both The Witness and Outer Wilds were two highly acclaimed games that I fully expected to really enjoy, but with both of them I left feeling very disappointed, for different reasons.

I respect what the Witness does and the craft of how it's all put together, very clever. But it just ends up feeling like a bumper book of puzzles to me, after a few dozen of the same kind of puzzle I just get very irritable. I was expecting a more Myst-like experience where the puzzles are varied and integrated into the environment, where there's equal focus between world/story building and the puzzling. To me The Witness felt like it took a long time to say very little, it's very rare that I use the term pretentious but I do feel like it applies here.

The Outer Wilds also has some very innovative and interesting ideas and craft, but left me very underwhelmed. I won't go into details but I honestly think it's pretty overrated. It all hinges on how well the story and world captivates you though, I can see how many people would like it.

Riven is still the absolute high point of the explorative puzzle genre for me.

[the__alchemist]

I played Myst 2022 and Riven in the past month. Riven is still as amazing as I remember. I didn't remember any dialog, plot, or books, but remembered all the puzzles and settings - after 20 years!

The Witness and to a lesser extend OW were evidently influenced by these games. Overall, I liked them more! Subtle and clever in ways the Cyan predesessors are not.