The developer also posted an FAQ, confirming it is a ground-up modern remake of the classic adventure title. It won’t be point-and-click, with players able to fully traverse the 3D environments. Other navigation methods will be announced at “a later date.”

Also, if you own the original Riven, you will not receive a free copy of the remake. “This new Riven is not an update or upgrade. It is a modern from-the-ground-up remake that has required (and will continue to require) a substantial investment of resources.” Further details weren’t provided, but the remake is seemingly a ways off from release.

First released in 1997 for PC and PlayStation One, Riven received significant acclaim due to its aesthetic and puzzles. It was the best-selling game of its launch year, and sold 4.5 million copies by 2001. Stay tuned for more details on the remake in the coming months.

The first is Recompile which will be available for consoles, PC and the cloud on August 19th. The stylish Metroidvania-esque adventure has already garnered attention for its aesthetic and exploration. Train Sim World 2 and Twelve Minutes, the latter also being hyped for its premise and all-star cast, are also out on the same day.

On August 25th, the eagerly awaited Psychonauts 2 will be available at last with Raz embarking on a brand new adventure through all kinds of mind-scapes. Perhaps the most unexpected announcement is that Myst, a remake of the classic adventure game which first released for Oculus Quest in December 2020, will also be available for consoles, PC and the cloud on Xbox Game Pass. It will also release for PC via Steam, GOG and the Epic Games Store.

As for titles leaving the service on August 31st, they include the following:

• Blair Witch (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Double Kick Heroes (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• NBA 2K21 (Cloud and Console)
• Stranger Things 3: The Game (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Dark Souls

The epitome of games that don’t hold your hand. From Software’s challenging hack and slash title provides a few basic instructions and then thrusts you into a world of pain. Forget the Poise debates of Dark Souls 3 or whether Dark Souls 2 was even any good – many players had a tough time just surviving in this age of fire and darkness. Where to go, what to do, whether you should kill that guy praising the sun abd so on and so forth. Of course, thanks to the summoning and message systems, players could actually help each other through tough situations. This ironically resulted in one of the more helpful communities out there.

Classic adventure game series Myst will apparently be made into a television series. This is according to Variety which reported that creators Rand and Robyn Miller are working with Legendary Entertainment for the same. The series will be part of a new “transmedia” initiative and also include a new game and tablet spin-off.

As of now, there are no details on characters, story or cast. Myst itself is quite the polarizing game franchise – when adventure games were still about characterization and difficult puzzles, Myst arrived with its pre-rendered graphics and static backdrops to shake things up. It didn’t do much to advance the genre save for consumers now demanding higher end graphics from their adventure games.

The Myst series went on for five games with various spin-offs in between. The entire franchise has sold millions of copies but will it be recognizable enough among today’s consumer base? We’ll find out in the coming months so stay tuned.

Jack Wall, the composer for the upcoming Lost World, has composed scores for such huge titles as Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Mass Effect, Myst, Splinter Cell and more. Now Wall has announced that his latest score will release in its entirety via his record label on iTunes and Amazon for download in time with the release of the game.

The soundtrack is split into two distinct volumes, each of which represent the two different approaches to the game’s soundtrack. Wall’s thoughts on entire piece are as follows:

“When Spark and Capcom asked me to write alien country as roughly half of the soundtrack to Lost Planet 3, I was really intrigued. It would be the main character’s mix tape. This is the music Jim Peyton listens to when he’s on mission in his rig – the music his wife Grace, back on Earth, sends him to remind him of home. The challenge was to make it real, but add just enough elements and context to make it seem like it is music from the future.”

As well as composing and producing the Alien Country Music, Wall performs acoustic, baritone and electric guitars on all the tracks. Joining him on this unique sci-fi musical adventure, Wall formed and recorded a band of celebrated artists including composer Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica) on accordion, guitarist Craig Stull (Firefly) on dobro guitar, drummer Joe Travers (Zappa Plays Zappa), vocalist Cindy Shapiro (Myst III: Exile), and cinema’s foremost harmonica player, Tommy Morgan, amongst other talented musicians. Key tracks include: “Rattlesnake,” “A Long Way Home,” “Ballad of Jim Peyton,” and “Outlaw.”

“For me the score needed to be two things: mysterious and wild,” explains Wall. “If I could inject those ideas into the music for E.D.N III, I would be doing my job. I’m very excited by what we’ve put together for players. The script, acting and story seamlessly intertwine with this music to create a tangible world.”

The Lost Planet 3 soundtrack will be available for digital download via Wall’s label, Lost Sound Records on August 27th.