Cyan Worlds has released a teaser for a Myst game it is not making, and confirmed that a different one is now in early development. Co-heads Hannah Gamiel and Eric Anderson made the disclosures during the studio’s annual State of the Union address at the Mysterium fan convention on July 26, according to GamesIndustry.biz.
The shelved project, codenamed Project Anglerfish, was a prototype built to pitch publishers rather than a game in production. GamesIndustry.biz reports it was worked on across 2024 and 2025; Anderson framed the effort in the video itself as roughly four months of development that began more than a year ago.
Over a year ago, we spent about four months developing a new prototype for a game in the Myst universe. What we’re about to show you is a teaser trailer for that prototype, that was meant for publisher eyes only.
Development director Hannah Gamiel said the project "couldn’t move forward at the time" for a variety of reasons and will not be released in its current form, but that Cyan was sharing the teaser because it is proud of the team’s work. Rock Paper Shotgun describes the footage as a mansion-set puzzle sequence in which a client grows steadily more unhinged while pressing the player to retrieve a book that must stay closed.
What Cyan is actually building
The Anglerfish reveal was part of a wider "Paths Not (yet) Taken" segment covering unreleased or reworked concepts from the past two decades, including early design work on Obduction and projects referred to as Lyft and DiSC. Cyan then confirmed that a new Myst-universe title codenamed Mudfish is in early development. No release window or platforms were given.
The studio also outlined a physical-media push for its back catalogue. Physical editions of the Myst and Riven remakes are coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox and PC, with console versions shipping on disc and PC copies including a digital code. Three Myst-universe novels published roughly three decades ago — The Book of Atrus, The Book of Ti’ana and The Book of D’ni — are being reissued as deluxe physical editions.
A studio still looking for funding
The last mainline entry in the series, Myst 5: End of Ages, shipped in 2005. Cyan has since worked on Myst-adjacent games including Obduction and Firmament, both funded on Kickstarter, and PC Gamer notes each campaign drew well over $1 million. A 2018 Kickstarter for the Myst 25th Anniversary Collection raised more than $2.8 million.
Rock Paper Shotgun notes that Cyan laid off 12 staff — around half its team — in March 2025, and said at the time that its top priority was securing financing for its next project. Anderson said the studio is "still hard at work on new games and experiences in the Myst universe" and will share more when it can.
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