Today, Jagex has unveiled RuneScape: Dragonwilds, a new game set in the beloved fantasy setting made popular by the 24-year-old MMORPG. It’s an open-world survival crafting game with cooperative multiplayer support for up to four players, and it will debut this Spring on Steam Early Access. This is the studio’s first proper spin-off to be released after they canceled the previous action RPG project.
Jon Bellamy, CEO of the Cambridge-based developer, stated:
We’re so excited to finally give players a glimpse at the next entry in the RuneScape franchise today with RuneScape: Dragonwilds. This is an entirely new RuneScape experience set within the iconic world of Gielinor and is a game which is worthy of wearing the RuneScape name. From the very beginning, community feedback has been at the heart of RuneScape: Dragonwilds. We’ve already conducted closed alpha tests with some of our closest community members, and we’ll be listening to player feedback when building the game throughout Early Access. We’ve built an entirely new team filled with industry veterans who are focussed on making sure that RuneScape: Dragonwilds sits naturally within the RuneScape franchise, and a game that is loved by both our biggest RuneScape fans and entirely new players alike.
The backdrop is that, as suggested by the title, dragons have awoken on RuneScape’s forgotten continent of Ashenfall. Players will have to master survival while uncovering ancient secrets to try and slay the Dragon Queen, who appears to be positioned to be the final boss.
They’ll get to use what Jagex described as ‘wild, transformative magic’ to gather resources, such as exploding ore veins with a finger snap or conjuring a spectral axe to chop down a line of trees in a single hit. RuneScape: Dragonwilds also reportedly features a unique progression system that players will use to unlock new spells and craft recipes and abilities.
Jagex estimates that early access should be completed in early 2026, though that may vary depending on player feedback. RuneScape: Dragonwilds is powered by Unreal Engine 5, but the system requirements listed on the store page are quite low.
Minimum:
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Intel Core i3-8100 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, 6GB, AMD Radeon RX 5600XT or Intel Arc A750, 8GB
- DirectX: Version 12
- Storage: 25 GB available space
Recommended:
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Intel core i5-10600 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, 6GB or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, 8GB
- DirectX: Version 12
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 25 GB available space
