Riven (2024) -- My Steam Deck's blue light filter screwed me out of solving a puzzle on my own
So I had been playing Riven (2024) before bed each night over the last week and greatly enjoying it. My goal with this playthrough was to beat the game completely on my own with no hints. Sounded doable I had played the OG myst (and most of the original Riven) games before this. Everyday, I would make a little more progress each time, and whenever I got stuck, I would eventually figure out that there was some button or interactive thing I was overlooking, and then I would make progress again. Slow and steady.
But this fire marble puzzle in the dome tripped me up, and I got stuck for days with no progress. I figured out >!the 5x5 grid and what locations represented what islands based on the survey island model, and also what colors represented each Island, and what symbols were all needed to solve the puzzle. I also solved the dni and Rivenese number systems.!< I had all the clues to correctly solve the puzzle. But there was one detail that was holding me back and it had nothing to do with the game --I completely didn't realize my blue light filter was on whenever I played the game at night. When I analyzed the >!"yellow" marble in Ghen's lab, I used his notes to deduce a base value of 14. Because the yellow marble note said base value minus 5 equals 9 (based on the yellow marble's calibration tool in the lab).!< Only after giving up on my goal and reading a guide did I learn the fire marble in Ghen's lab was not >!yellow!< but actually >!white!<, and I realized I had the eye-saver/blue light filter setting on. I'm pretty salty about it. >!ahhhhhhhh!<
Lesson learned I guess: check my color filter settings when playing a game that involves puzzles using colors. And if you're color blind, best of luck to you.