Cyan‘s two remakes are coming to PlayStation 5 with PlayStation VR2 support, while Xbox Series will also receive the games.
Myst and Riven will support both flatscreen, or 2D, and PlayStation VR2 play modes at launch. This was the toughest part of development for Cyan: making sure players using either mode would get an excellent experience. The team used lessons learned from its previous PlayStation 5 game, Firmament, which also supported both 2D and VR, to improve interactions, graphical fidelity, base render resolution, and performance for each playstyle. In return, some of the lessons learned from these new releases have already been incorporated back into Firmament. The developers are eager to see how players react to being able to enjoy Myst and Riven in whichever way feels most comfortable to them.
Myst and Riven will also support ray tracing through ray-traced reflections, though only in flatscreen mode. Cyan made sure this support is included in both the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro versions. When ray-traced reflections are enabled, the frame rate is capped at 30 FPS to provide a smoother play experience while allocating more time to the render thread. When ray-traced reflections are disabled and screen-space reflections are used instead, each game’s frame rate increases to 60 FPS. Players can choose to enable ray-traced reflections by unchecking the Performance Mode box in each game’s Display settings menu, which also subtly changes the base render resolution to maintain a balance between graphics and performance.
The developers are also happy to announce that both Myst and Riven are officially PlayStation 5 Pro Enhanced titles. For Cyan, this means several things: first, an increase in graphical fidelity in each game’s flatscreen mode on PlayStation 5 Pro, including better view distance, foliage, textures, post-processing, and shading. Second, players using VR on PlayStation 5 Pro will get a higher base rendering resolution in both games, while in Riven‘s flatscreen mode, checking the Performance Mode box also provides a better base rendering resolution. The games take advantage of tweaked implementations of Unreal Engine‘s TSR, allowing upscaling on both PlayStation 5 Pro and the base PlayStation 5 in exchange for improved graphical settings.
Myst and Riven will also join the list of PlayStation 5 games that support Power Saver mode. Power Saver mode is a relatively new PlayStation 5 feature that allows games to scale back performance in order to reduce power consumption, and therefore help lower energy costs for many players. Both Myst and Riven support this new feature by reducing each game’s base render resolution and forcing a fixed frame rate of 30 FPS.
The Cyan team has worked hard to ensure that these fully reimagined versions of Myst and Riven take advantage of many PlayStation 5 features, especially on PlayStation 5 Pro. Whether players enjoy them from the couch in flatscreen mode or experience them up close and personally through PlayStation VR2, the developers believe a real treat is waiting. They are grateful for everyone’s support and hope to keep making great games for another 40 years.
The Myst and Riven remakes will launch on May 19 for PlayStation 5 with PlayStation VR2 support, and for Xbox Series. They will cost $35 each. Naturally, there will be no VR support on Microsoft’s console.
