As an avid fan of RuneScape, I was pleasantly surprised by the news that they’ve been working on a co-op survival game that’s eventually going to be available on multiple platforms. RuneScape: Dragonwilds now has a Steam store page, and based on what’s on it at the moment, it seems to be a sort of “Valheim meets RS” kind of deal.
It’s not the first time I’ve made that comparison, but this legitimately does look like it’ll play like the aforementioned viking-themed indie title.
The Details So Far
All of the information I have about it so far is solely based on the Steam page and their announcement on the official Old School RuneScape website, as they seem to be preparing for a deep-dive livestream on April 15. I suppose that’s where we’ll get to learn more about Dragonwilds and hopefully get a better look at the actual gameplay.
For now, though, it seems like it’s going to be set in a completely new area called Ashenfall. There, players are going to be introduced to a new type of magic that will enable you to gather resources and construct buildings with much less effort than it would have taken you in either of the MMORPGs the game’s based on.
Players will still be leveling up skills and completing quests, as is tradition in RuneScape, and the new setting will open up ways for the devs to introduce unique enemies that even hardcore fans have never seen before.
It’s safe to assume that runes will come into play with the magic system too, since it’s a core part of the world the game’s based on. Let’s just hope that you won’t have to train runecrafting the old school way…
Based on the teaser trailer and anecdotes from alpha testers, the iconic combat triangle seems to be a part of the game to some extent as well. This means that there will be three different combat styles (mage, range, and melee), but we’ll just have to wait and see how they’ll interact with one another.
Now, setting aside what little we know of the gameplay so far, the developers have also stated that they will be taking player feedback seriously. This shouldn’t be too surprising to people who have played their games before, as we straight up vote for changes being pitched in Old School RuneScape.
Personally, I’m definitely going to be trying it out as soon as it becomes available on early access. Even though I’ve grown tired of the typical survival game formula, I’ll make an exception for this as it feels like it’ll be something that’s both familiar yet entirely new at the same time.
More details are going to be revealed in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for Dragonwilds-related posts on the news & updates pages of both Old School RuneScape and the original RuneScape websites.