Cyan Worlds used its annual State of the Union talk at the Mysterium fan convention on July 26 to pull back the curtain on a Myst project that never made it out the door, while confirming that another one is now in early development.
Co-heads Hannah Gamiel and Eric Anderson walked attendees through a segment called "Paths Not (yet) Taken," covering unreleased or reworked concepts from the studio's past two decades. That included early design work for Obduction predating its release, plus projects referred to as Lyft and DiSC. The headline reveal was Project Anglerfish, a prototype built across 2024 and 2025 that Cyan pitched to publishers before shelving.
What Project Anglerfish Was
According to Rock Paper Shotgun, Anderson explained that the team "spent about four months developing a new prototype for a game in the Myst universe," and that the teaser trailer Cyan showed "was meant for publisher eyes only." Gamiel said that "for a variety of reasons" the game "couldn't move forward at the time" and won't be released in its current form, but that the studio wanted to share it out of pride in the team's work.
The teaser itself leans into classic Myst atmosphere: a man in a green cardigan hires a guildsman to hunt through a mansion for a book that must stay closed, and things spiral from there into breaking objects, tentacle-like growths, and increasingly unhinged raving about ages and grisly deaths.
The context behind the shelving is hard to ignore. As RPS notes, Cyan laid off 12 people last March, roughly half its team, and said at the time that its top priority was to "secure financing for our next project."
A New Myst Game, Codenamed Mudfish
Despite Anglerfish stalling, Cyan confirmed it is still "hard at work on new games and experiences in the Myst universe." A new Myst-universe title codenamed Mudfish is in early development, though the studio gave no release window and no platform details.
Cyan also laid out a physical-media plan for its back catalogue. Physical editions of the Myst and Riven remakes are heading to PlayStation 5, Xbox, and PC. Console versions will ship on disc, while PC copies will include a digital code. On top of that, the studio is reissuing deluxe physical editions of three Myst-universe tie-in novels, The Book of Atrus, The Book of Ti'ana, and The Book of D'ni, originally published around three decades ago.
What This Means for Players
If you follow Cyan, the practical takeaway is patience. Mudfish is real but early, with nothing concrete to circle on a calendar yet, and Project Anglerfish is a look at what could have been rather than something you'll get to play. The nearer-term wins are the physical releases: disc versions of the Myst and Riven remakes on PS5 and Xbox, PC copies with codes, and hardback reissues of the novels. Collectors have something to plan for, while everyone waiting on the studio's next full title will need to keep an eye out for the details Cyan says it will share when it can.