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Riven Spoilers

Welcome to the new Computer Game Spoilers section of my gaming website. I added this section because I recently received questions about the plots of two different games which, to my surprise and embarrassment, I had totally forgotten the answers to. Then, to my further surprise, I was unable to find any existing website that would refresh my memory about the plots of computer games... lots of puzzle solutions, but no basic plot summaries.

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So I figured I'd better write some of them down while they're still fresh in my mind, just in case I or anybody else wants to refer to them at some point in the future (or in case anybody suffers a major game glitch and just wants to know what was supposed to happen in the end-- I get letters like this from time to time.) If you haven't finished Riven yet and you don't want the plot of this game to be revealed to you, then you don't want to read this page. Please go back to my main Riven page, where I give tips and reviews without giving away any of its plot.

But if you are looking for plot spoilers, just scroll further down the page to find them!

Plot Summary

The plot of Riven is a lot more humdrum than Myst's. Atrus sends the player character on a quest to rescue his wife Catherine from his evil father Gehn. After a lot of exploration and puzzle-solving, the PC manages to rescue Catherine and find Gehn, who he is supposed to trap in a trap book like the ones that held Sirrus and Achenar in the first Myst game. He claims it is a linking book, but Gehn alertly refuses to touch it unless the PC enters first to show it is safe. If the PC does so, Gehn will try to follow and be trapped in his or her place, thus completing the mission.

Game Endings

There are eight different endings you can achieve in this game, though you really have to deliberately go out of your way in order to see any of them but the victorious one (the losing cutscenes are almost more like Easter Eggs put there for people who think of things like "Hey, what do you think the game would do if I trapped myself in the trap book instead of Gehn?" or "What will Atrus say if I 'forget' to rescue Catherine?")

Ending #1: If you rescue Catherine and trap Gehn, you get a happy ending, with Atrus thanking you and then sending you back to your own world.

Ending #2: If you trap Gehn but fail to rescue Catherine, you get a mournful ending in which Atrus grieves for his missing wife.

Ending #3: If you cheat by learning the code, restoring an early game, and entering the code before retrieving the trap book, you get an ending video of yourself falling into the Void.

Ending #4: If you trap Gehn in the book but then release him by touching it yourself, you will be trapped in the book in his place. He has two different speeches depending on whether you do this on Riven or in the Moiety Age.

Ending #5: If you refuse to go into the trap book three times, Gehn becomes too suspicious of you and shoots you to death.

Ending #6: If you go into the trap book on your own while in the Moiety Age, the rebels find your book and burn it up with you inside it.

Ending #7: If you go into the trap book on your own while on Riven, Gehn forces his guard to swap places with you, then shoots you to death as you exit the book.

Ending #8: If you signal Atrus before trapping Gehn, then Gehn shoots and kills him when he arrives, and his guard shoots and kills you.