Since its release 25 years ago, the legendary MMO RuneScape has, for better and for worse, been changed into something unrecognizable. In fact, some of these changes have been so divisive that, in February 2013, at the request of fans, the British company behind the game, Jagex, released Old School RuneScape: a fork of the game based on a backup dating from August 2007. Both RuneScape branches have been up and running at the same time ever since and, according to a report published by Game Developer in January 2026, they’ve generated more than 3 billion USD in lifetime revenue total.
This being said, the original RuneScape, which became known to fans as RuneScape 3, never really recovered the momentum lost back in the day, with many actually considering Old School RuneScape to be the favourable RuneScape experience. As such, in order to grow the game’s appeal and perhaps win some Old School fans over, in early 2026, the developers behind RuneScape 3 announced the Road to Restoration: a bold new roadmap by which the game will receive its largest expansion yet and see core systems modernized. At least initially, this update has been well received by fans.
However, community sentiment seems to have turned on RuneScape 3 yet again with the announcement, during RuneFest 2026, a convention celebrating the RuneScape franchise, of RuneScape Reignited, which is, effectively, an ambitious yet polarizing relaunch of the game set to drop on December 2nd. At the show itself, I had the opportunity to talk to creative director Ryan Philpott and game designer Molly Mason and ask them about what exactly Reignited would mean for new and veteran players alike, the three story arcs planned for next year and more:
Hello and thank you for having me! How does it feel like to be here at RuneFest 2026 together with more than six thousand fans?
Ryan Philpott: Bloody amazing! This is the biggest RuneFest we’ve ever had. And I say this every year: I’ve played this game for over 20 years and worked on it for over 13, and every time I turn up and…wow! All these people here love the game that we’ve been making…it never gets old! It’s just a surreal feeling.
Molly Mason: Everyone is incredibly excited to be here to learn about the games and to talk to people. It’s incredibly exciting!
Even though I’ve been aware of RuneScape for a long time, I’m a brand-new player. What does the recently announced RuneScape Reignited have in store for someone like me?
Ryan Philpott: So, RuneScape Reignited is essentially a relaunch of RuneScape. We have 25 years of content, which is an insane thing to say, so there is no better time than now to play the game. Whether you’re new, like in your case, or maybe you haven’t played RuneScape in a long time, [Reignited] is a perfect gateway to experience 25 years of this amazing franchise.
We’ve been remastering so many things and have been putting the game on a better path over the last years. We’ve made some changes through what we’ve been calling the Road of Restoration roadmap, and we’ve got this amazing roadmap ahead of us. With Reignited, you could essentially play RuneScape on December 2nd as if it’s a new MMO release, and I think that’s insane. You’ve got 25 years of content [to play], and you’re going to be here for a long time.
Molly Mason: And we’ve got the Adventure Guide coming. So, 25 years of content might sound a bit daunting, but you’ve got the Adventure Guide, which is there to help you on your journey every step of the way. We’re also remastering the Journey, starting from the very beginning of the game. We’re making it so that the tutorial, the early skilling and early combat and the early game experience as a whole are very reflective of the modern standards of our gameplay.
As you’ve mentioned, RuneScape has embarked on a roadmap you’re calling the Road of Restoration. At what point will RuneScape be “restored”, if that’s even an end goal you’re tackling?
Ryan Philpott: Good question. Moving into next year, we want to continue the Road to Restoration. There is still more to do, and there are more things we want to “restore”. I think the game has never been in a better place than now to start, but we’re going to forever get better, because that’s what we’re focused on. Maybe there is a world in the future where it goes from being the Road to Restoration to something like “Road Restored” or something, but not for next year. We’ve still got things we want to tackle first.
Considering how transformative this relaunch seems to be, would you say that it is better for new players to wait for RuneScape Reignited to launch on December 2nd? Or should they just jump in right now?
Ryan Philpott: That’s a really good question. The best time to play RuneScape is always. The next best time will be on December 2nd. It’s only around two months away, which isn’t far, but I think that is the prime time to play in the longer term. Definitely get into the game right now just to see how it is and get your grip on it so that, when the doors to Reignited open and the world’s flooded with thousands of players, you’ve got a bit of an edge.
On the other hand, what is it about RuneScape Reignited that you hope will bring potential returning players back to RuneScape 3?
Molly Mason: So, in remastering the Journey, we’re remastering a lot of the iconic and notable content that our returning players will be familiar with: Dragon Slayer, Demon Slayer, Vampyre Slayer, Tutorial Island and more. So, if they decide to come back as a Reignited character and they’re experiencing that content again, they’ll be able to experience it in a new light since it looks brand new and feels brand new.
Ryan Philpott: The barrier to entry is gone, also. Because, as a person who’s maybe lapsed out of the game, if they were to come and log back in, they’d be like: “What’s going on? What’s changed?” So, Reignited is the perfect opportunity to start from the beginning with everyone.
You’re not overwhelmed; you don’t have any items yet, and then the Adventure Guide that Molly’s mentioned is there as a completely optional guide through what the best of what RuneScape has to offer. So, yeah, whether you’re new or returning, there are no barriers of entry that were there or that are there when, say, you return to an old account right now.
But progression carries over to RuneScape Reignited, right? So, it’s not like a complete restart and more like a remasterization of the assets and recontextualization of the story?
Ryan Philpott: Essentially, you can create a new character and start with this new beginning. So, if you have a character today, you can create a new character to start with in this fresh economy and [chase] brand new HiScores. You could become the world’s first player to achieve Magnum Woodcutting as a Reignited player, for example, so all the opportunities are there.
Molly Mason: But if you decide to play your existing character, not your Reignited character, you’ll still be able to experience the Adventure Guide and the remastered content.
Ryan Philpott: It’s all played in the same space. So, all of our veterans playing RuneScape today can keep playing. And, using Molly as an example, she can make a Reignited character and play alongside theirs.
Do you think there is value in players “re-rolling” their characters or basically having two characters at the same time? The first being a “legacy” character and a second specifically for Reignited?
Ryan Philpott: Yeah, because the game’s changed so much. So, just to give you some backstory about myself: I’ve been playing since 2004, and I have a couple of accounts that have achieved like all the things you can possibly achieve in the game. And the idea of starting fresh with everyone else and all my friends, for example, who don’t play RuneScape or have never played RuneScape…there’s no better time than December 2nd for us to have fun together. I think it’s an amazing kick-off point.
Molly Mason: I would say that a lot of our players are already playing on two accounts. They have their main, they have their Ironman one…so, yeah, we definitely encourage that.
I’ve mentioned earlier that I’ve been aware of RuneScape for a long time, mostly through some of my friends who play. But most of the people I know have thousands of hours in Old School and only 20, 30, 40 hours in RuneScape 3. What would be the RuneScape Reignited pitch for someone like them?
Ryan Philpott: From my point of view, as someone who’s played so long and achieved many things, it’s an opportunity to play with friends who have never felt like there was a good opportunity for them to get into the game. There’s no greater feeling than sherpaing all your friends.
Molly Mason: Reignited is also not meant to be a replacement for Old School. We’re all friends. Like, we have a lot of players who play both games. You can come and play Reignited for a month, two months, three months and then go back to Old School for a bit. Even though they are two different games and they offer different things and aspects, there’s still that core RuneScape-ness in both games.
What can you say about the three arcs planned for next year? In what exact way do they aim to refresh or innovate upon what’s already present in RuneScape?
Ryan Philpott: So, the three arcs all tell their standalone stories. We’ve got Hoard of Dragons, City of Gnomes and Secrets of Karamja. I can’t tell you much about Secrets of Karamja today, as we aren’t talking much about that one, but our goal with all of them is to get back to our roots around telling more varied stories within RuneScape and encompassing a range of content under a single narrative.
So, in the City of Gnomes arc, there will be gnome-related content, but what’s also really amazing and something that we’ve never, never really done before is that RuneScape will also become more of an evolving world. So, the world will evolve around what’s going on, so you can imagine the inhabitants of the world talking about feeling the ground shake. And, as the weeks unfold, the characters in the world will maybe see things flying through the sky, so the world will feel like it’s living and breathing. For example, the gnomes might be preparing for Glouphrie, and then the quest comes out.
Will these events and reactions be permanent? Or are they going to be present only up to the next patch?
Ryan Philpott: The idea is that the world will evolve and the content will release, but you could jump in at any given point. So, if you were to start, just as an example, in the middle of the next year, when the Hoard of Dragons arc has started and finished, someone in the world might tell you about how the dragons rose and flew through the sky when the volcano exploded.
So, there are moments that you want to be there for when they happen, but the content itself will always be accessible. You’re always going to be able to play Dragon Slayer II, and you’re always going to be able to enjoy Grandmaster Clues, but the way in which they get introduced to the game will be based on what’s happening in the month.
You’ve mentioned that these three arcs are standalone, but is there any way they tie into and continue the long-running story behind RuneScape?
Ryan Philpott: So, they all tell their own standalone stories, but there is a sort of meta-story underneath it all, which we aren’t talking about much today. We want to tell a lot of standalone stories but [in a way] that they’re connected in some way. Not forcefully, but, for example, in Hoard of Dragons, you’re going to Red Dragon Isle, and maybe there are some characters over there that have nothing to do with the dragons that are building out other branches and stories. So, we’re creating new stories within these arcs, and maybe those stories turn out to be their own arcs in 2028.
Molly Mason: And these arcs are continuing storylines that we started, god knows how many years ago! So, with Dragon Slayer II, you might see some familiar faces. The Curse of Arposandra, too, is going to be the finale to the gnome storyline, which players have been looking forward to for so long. So, even though they’re standalone…they’re still continuing decades-long storylines.
So then, the order in which players take on these arcs doesn’t really matter?
Ryan Philpott: Exactly. So, if you came in, for example, in December 2027, essentially the last month of all three arcs, you could do Dragon Slayer II, you could do the Grandmaster Clues and engage in the Agility rework. What you would, I would say, miss is that you wouldn’t have seen the world when the dragons rose and flew over.
Speaking of finishing these long-running questlines, are there any other narrative threads you’d like to wrap up in the years to come?
Molly Mason: What can I say?! [laughs]
Ryan Philpott: Well, yes! [laughs] Interestingly, a lot of what I, as a player, would love to see aligns with everything the players are asking for. So, we’re announcing that we will continue the gnome storyline in 2027, which is something that players have been asking us to do forever. We’re finding that a lot of what we want to do ends up aligning with what the players want to do because we’re making the game for the players. That’s what RuneScape does so well: we are building the game together with the players.
There are probably players on Reddit posting about how doing this or that would be cool to do…
Ryan Philpott: Yes, that’s literally happening right now! There are bingo cards floating around for what we’re going to announce at RuneFest, and we’re like ticking 21 out of 25 boxes.
Molly Mason: I mean, gnomes are a classic and a fan-favourite. But I’d love to see more penguin quests because they are so quintessentially RuneScape — they’re talking penguins who are spies!
Ryan Philpott: One minute you’re talking to a penguin, the next you’re talking to or killing a dragon…it’s just all over the place, but in a good way. It’s what makes RuneScape RuneScape.
We’ve just touched on the role that the community has, but, broadly speaking, how would you say that the community impacts RuneScape’s development?
Ryan Philpott: Our community is everything to us. I literally read every single comment I ever see on social media, and I’m in too many Discord servers where I’m reading everything. We, as a group of developers on RuneScape, care so much about what all the players have to say and what works and doesn’t work.
And although we don’t have a polling system like they do in Old School RuneScape, we still work with the players; we talk to them, we put blogs out, we say what we would like to do and, if they give us feedback, we tweak stuff and change stuff. We get things right, but we also get things slightly wrong sometimes, but, you know, it’s just the sort of thing that only works when you work for your players. This is something that RuneScape and Jagex as a whole…I think we’re just industry-leading at working with our players.
Molly Mason: Like Ryan just said, even though we don’t have polls, we are still incredibly community-driven and still incredibly talkative with players on X, on Reddit and on Discord. Like, we actively involve players as we’re making our updates. We sometimes invite players to the office to play content before it’s even gone out, you know?
So, if you’re reading every comment and you’re really paying attention to what’s being said online, how do you know what’s an actionable item?
Ryan Philpott: You don’t always [know]. It’s a combination of experience and making this game together plus the players’ input. We try to get feedback from everywhere; we try to absorb it, have conversations and find the ideal outcome. I don’t think there’s ever a single right outcome, though. There are many, many right outcomes.
Molly Mason: I mean, obviously, if it’s something easy like fixing a bug, then yeah, sure. But then, there are definitely some questions where sometimes we’ll disagree between us as to what the right answer is.
Ryan Philpott: We have a lot of learnings around the Reignited launch later this year…I’m sure we’ll get a couple of things wrong there — we’re only human — but I think that nine out of ten things will hit.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Ryan Philpott: I’m probably repeating myself, but I played this game for over 20 years, worked on it for over 13…I’m so privileged and proud of the team and where we’ve got the game to today. There’s no better time to play than today. And the next best time will be December 2nd. It’s going to be amazing to open those gates again and watch thousands of level three players come through and play the game together. I, myself, am going to get more of my family playing RuneScape again. So, yeah, rally all your friends and message all your group chats.
Molly Mason: We’ve got ten free days starting from December 2nd, which is around the holiday season, so I’m very excited. I’m looking forward to jumping in and playing.
Ryan Philpott: With the ten free day period, we are giving anyone and everyone an opportunity to come and play and experience the benefits of being a member. We know you’re going to leave those 10 days saying: “What an amazing game! I think I want to keep playing for the next 25 years!”
