24 years later, RuneScape gets its own survival game – RuneScape: Dragonwilds turns the MMO into a co-op game with RPG juice and Valheim energy, and it's out this year

There's a new RuneScape on the way, and this time it's a co-op, open-world survival crafting game called RuneScape: Dragonwilds, marking a significant shift in direction for the storied MMO.

Developer Jagex revealed RuneScape: Dragonwilds today, and it's already on Steam ahead of its spring 2025 early access launch. CEO Jon Bellamy adds that it's "an entirely new RuneScape experience set within the iconic world of Gielinor and is a game which is worthy of wearing the RuneScape name."

"We’ve built an entirely new team filled with industry veterans who are focused 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," Bellamy says.

Dragonwilds is built for one to four players, and its "grind skills, slay dragons" ethos will sound familiar to RuneScape and Old School RuneScape players. But apart from some shared spells and skills, that's seemingly where the gameplay similarities end. This is a decidedly more Valheim-flavored adventure where you'll grind resources, build bases, and master "light RPG elements" as you survive on the "never-before-seen" continent of Ashenfall.

With Jagex rolling out its own open-world survival craft-'em-up, the Valheim comparison brings us full circle, as that game was previously praised by some RuneScape players for capturing a similar wonder. The goal here is "a blend of survival and RuneScape," which is certainly the vibe so far.

Dragonwilds has a similar feel, but there's a greater emphasis on magic, with our trailer heroes using spectral axes to decimate trees and summoning wind to leap over huge gaps. The classic Bones to Peaches spell is back, too. "Prepare potions, craft gear and level yourself up to do battle with the most powerful force on the continent," the Steam page reads.

This being an early access launch, Dragonwilds "is currently not a finished game and may or may not change significantly over the course of development," Jagex says. The current plan is to stay in early access for "as long as it takes," with a tentative "early 2026" 1.0 launch in mind.

New skills, quests, enemies, seasonal events, resources, items, and "vaults to uncover" will be added in and ahead of the full version of Dragonwilds, Jagex explains. It sounds like we'll get more dragons, too, as the game will only launch with "the first Dragon," General Velgar. (Fittingly, Velgar looks to be a green dragon.) The price of the game will eventually go up once it leaves early access, and Jagex "may release post-launch content as paid DLC in the future."

Old School RuneScape, especially, is known for polling proposed changes and acting on player votes, and Dragonwilds is said to be similarly player-first. "The best way to make a game we know fans will love, is to make it with them!" Jagex says on Steam. "We're bringing players along for the journey. RuneScape games have always been better for community voice being at its heart, and we're taking that same mindset in listening to the community from day one."

I was worried this MMO's first new skill in over 12 years would change things too much, but Sailing in Old School RuneScape feels just like home.