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Following the release of Myst V: End of Ages in 2005, Cyan, the creators of the Myst universe, has spent much of its time looking backwards, with most of the team's projects focused around reintroducing its classic games to modern audiences.
In 2020, there was the VR remake of Myst for Meta Quest that later came to consoles and PC the following year, which was also later succeeded by a remake of Myst's sequel, Riven, in 2024.
From the outside looking in, it all seemed to be building up to something new, with the company's co-founder telling us as much around the time of that game's release, saying, "There's plenty to be done there without necessarily rehashing the other games that are in the quiver" and "The whole universe of Myst is huge" and "There's a lot of really interesting stories and places to be mined."
Since then, the only real news we've heard from the studio is the disappointing announcement of multiple waves of layoffs, which understandably threw a bit of a wrench into these plans. But over the past weekend, the team has confirmed, "We’re still hard at work on other new Myst universe things," while offering a look at what could have been the first new Myst Universe game in 20 years, an unfinished project called Project Anglerfish.
In the new video, uploaded to the Cyan YouTube channel, the studio's creative director, Eric A. Anderson, and the development director, Hannah Gamiel, showed a look at this "path not taken," introducing players to a prototype of the now-unfinished game.
Before showing any footage, Gamiel made sure to offer a "huge disclaimer" stating ", Everything we're about to show you is not actively in development and will not be released in its current form"
Following this, Anderson then gave a little context on what this project was, commenting, "Over a year ago, we spent about four months developing a new prototype for a game in the Myst universe, and what we're about to show you was a teaser trailer for that prototype that was meant for publisher eyes only."
As Gamiel outlines, the project couldn't move forward for "a variety of reasons" at the time, but she adds, "We're still proud of the work the team did, so we're sharing it with y'all right now."
The footage, which is roughly a minute and a half long, shows players being tasked by an unknown figure with entering a mansion to recover a book, which "must remain closed for your own safety and the safety of others." There are signs of some of the tactile puzzle-solving we've come to expect from the Myst universe, but what really steals the show for us is the world itself, which becomes increasingly out of control as the video goes on, and the unknown stranger, who becomes increasingly aggressive towards the protagonist.
To us, it looks like a great new set-up for an adventure, and it seems like others agree, with comments on the video ranging from "Respectfully: I want this" to "WE WERE THIS CLOSE TO GETTING MYST 6 WITH A COOL VILLAIN WHAT THE HELL."
From a preservation perspective, we're glad that Cyan decided to share this with the public, but we're also secretly hoping there's a chance that the project, or at least some of the same idea, can be resurrected in the future.