This game is so amazing that I won't even give a detailed review. All I have to say is this:
With amazing producrion values on everything from graphics, gameplay, puzzles, music, acting, etc, Riven is possibly the best adventure game ever and is a good contender for top game of all time. Even people who didn't like MYST love Riven, with its hauntingly tropical atmosphere and many islanders to interact with. Absolutely everybody should have this game in their collection.
NOTE: I played the original version. I did not play the version hosted here on gog.com. I had issues with getting the original disc to run in xp, but i cannot account for this version.