Cyan updates 'Myst' franchise for native Apple Silicon performance

AppleInsider

The development house behind such classic games as Myst and Riven has released the full trio of titles as Apple Silicon native apps, now available on the Mac App Store for the first time.

Myst and its two sequels are all now native Apple Silicon games -- image credit: Cyan

Cyan has created new "2.0" versions of Myst: Masterpiece Edition, Riven: The Sequel to Myst, and Myst III: Exile. In addition to bringing Apple Silicon support, the updates include better platform support, robust controller support, and better save game support.

Myst was originally ported over to Apple Silicon in 2021, but this update marks the debut of the "Masterpiece Edition," along with Riven and Myst III on the platform.

The games, once purchased, come as native Apple Silicon executables. This eliminates the need for workarounds in order to open previous versions of the apps on various modern macOS versions and chipsets.

Trilogy can run on older macOS versions as well

The games were among the first to take advantage of lush, photorealistic artwork. Originally released in 1993, the first of the trilogy, Myst, was a critical and commercial success, selling over six million copies.

The popularity of the game was such that it drove sales of CD-ROM drives for computers. More importantly, it was an original and groundbreaking game first released on the Mac platform in an era where this was all but unheard of.

The original version of the game was created by the Miller brothers, Rand and Robyn, using HyperCard. It was later ported to other computer platforms, videogame consoles, both major smartphone platforms, and even the Oculus Quest and Meta Quest 2.

The company has not forgotten about players on "classic" machines, and has also changed the minimum specifications to allow older macOS versions to run the games than was previously required. This makes it possible for owners of vintage Macs that can run at least macOS 10.13 to play the three titles.

Cyan drops 32-bit legacy support

The update for Mac also fixes an issue with system mouse cursor visibility on MacBook models that have a notch. It also eliminates an issue with the games asking to receive keystrokes from other applications.

That said, the new versions are now officially 64-bit only across both Windows and Mac. Cyan's update noted that users of very old operating systems who want to continue to run 32-bit versions can find them on Steam or Good Old Games (GOG) in the 32-bit beta branch.

A modern image of from the 2020 VR version of Myst -- image credit: Cyan

The company also updated its ScummVM virtual machine to version 2.9.0, and will move existing game saves and place future saves in Library -> Application Support -> ScummVM going forward.

In addition to native Apple Silicon support, the three updated titles are also available to play and purchase on Windows, Steam, and GOG. They're also verified to work on Steam Deck.

All platforms will see multiple stability, performance, and compatibility improvements. Also included is controller support to emulate mouse interactions, and persistent user settings between game launches.

Myst: Masterpiece Edition and Riven: The Sequel to Myst sell for $5.99 in the US version of the Mac App Store. Myst III: Exile costs $14.99.



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williamlondon

Cool, thanks for this article. Picked up the latest iPad version awhile ago, but the controls were a bit strange, perhaps I would have gotten used to them, but this will prompt me to get these new Mac versions.

Fun games, lots of nostalgia too.

lordjohnwhorfin

I miss Hypercard. It deserved better.

jeromec

Please note that this is for the original versions of the trilogy.
Since they are not resource intensive at all by today's standards, I doubt the Rosetta using versions had any trouble at all on M1+ Macs.

The new redevelopped versions are way more advanced: Riven has hardware-accelefrated ray tracing on M3/M4 ...at a much higher price though.

ralphbu

lordjohnwhorfin said:

I miss Hypercard. It deserved better.

It's still good. I use Hypercard every day, it runs flawlessly in Sheepshaver on Sequoia silicon macs.  It's  nice to use a program that never changes.

daalseth

I really enjoyed the updated iPad version of myst they released last year. I was hoping these would be for the iPad as well. OTOH at these prices I might just get them for my Mac though I don’t tend to game on it much. 

22july2013

I adore the fact that this game collects no information from the user. However the fact that the average rating by users is 1/5, which is essentially a zero score, is off-putting.