I remember Myst being eerie and kind of scary due to the vague story and sense of isolation. It had a nightmare-like quality to it.

Riven added a lot more world building and that lore took away the mystery and isolation that gave the original its ambiance.

It felt like they didn’t get that it was the unbridled creativity combined with no resources that forced them to make the experience itself good, rather than infinite resources indulging their misconceptions about where the value was