Cyan Worlds has released its big 2.0 update to MYST (2020), the VR-supported remake of the classic ’90s point-and-click adventure game, which includes performance boosts and improvements to stability for PC VR users.
The studio says in a recent Steam update that many of those performance woes have been resolved thanks to upgrading Myst from using Unreal Engine 4.27+ to Unreal Engine 5.3.2.
This has also pushed Cyan Worlds to adopt OpenXR in Myst, as it previously relied on the older OpenVR API, which is compatible with SteamVR. This, according to the studio, brings stability improvements, more generic launch options, and a more flexible environment for VR users.
Now, when booting the game for PC, users will see a single launch option that should work for all officially supported headsets, and possibly unsupported ones too, the studio says, which is largely thanks to OpenXR support.
While Myst can unofficially run on any SteamVR-supported headset, the studio says the new update drops official support for the original Rift headset and Quest 1 through Quest Link, as well as the original HTC Vive.
“This doesn’t mean that you CAN’T play Myst with those headsets, it just means that we are unable to give official support for them anymore. This statement also applies to WMR headsets, of which we only supported the HP Reverb 2 previously, but we will unfortunately no longer be able to officially support it, especially because of Microsoft’s own announcements to deprecate this support on Windows,” the studio says.
For PC VR users, Cyan warns that “mileage may vary” based on your machine, however the studio reports increased performance on some hardware, and decreased performance on others, to which the studio recommends toying with the existing and updated supersampling options.
The studio also fixed a number of VR-specific issues in Myst’s 2.0 update, such as resolving a height change bug when teleporting and menu visibility issues in certain game areas. The update also fixed backward movement glitches, random teleport loss, crashes upon exiting certain rooms, and inconsistencies in visual effects between eyes, along with refining VR menu bindings for smoother access across different SteamVR configurations.
It remains to be seen when the standalone Quest version will get similar focus from the studio, which released Myst sequel Riven (2024) back in June—optimized for Quest 3. Cyan Worlds says Quest and other platforms will get a patch “soon,” however the studio hasn’t released a clear estimate at the time of this writing.