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GDC 2018: A Look at ‘Runescape’ and ‘Old School Runescape’ for Mobile

Runescape is an absolutely fascinating game to read about, as how many games that were released in 2001 are still going strong over seventeen years later? If you’ve never heard of it, Runescape (originally) was a browser-based free to play MMO with a rapid update cycle with quest lines that have been evolving for over a decade. Quests aren’t the only thing that have grown, the game has massively increased in scope, and now has a lightweight client you download to play in complete 3D.

The mobile port is still a work in process, but the Runescape devs aim to have it be a complete 1:1 playable version of the game. You can play on your PC, log out, and pick out exactly where you left off on your phone. Given it’s a pretty hardcore PC title, there’s bunch of UI quirks to work out still on touch, but as you can see from the above video, it’s working pretty great!

Potentially more interesting is their second mobile project, a similarly totally functional mobile port of Old School Runescape, a modern re-release of 2007’s Runescape back before its full 3D beautification. Old School Runescape is entirely community driven, with any proposed update requiring 75% of the community to vote “Yes" for it to get added to the game.

Runescape is one of those games I’ve heard a ton about over the years, but really never dived into. Once these mobile clients launch, I think that’s all going to change.