Old School RuneScape is a game where many players can play together online. It was created and released by a company called Jagex on February 16, 2013. When the game first started, it was based on a version of RuneScape from August 2007, which was very popular before RuneScape 3 was released. Over time, the game received improvements in its technology, new content, and changes that made playing easier. These updates were decided by players through votes in the game. At first, it had fewer developers and updates came slower compared to RuneScape. However, Old School RuneScape is now more popular, with more than 240,000 players online at the same time in August 2025. A version for phones was released in October 2018 for Android and iOS devices.

Gameplay

Old School RuneScape is a type of game called a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that includes adventure activities. Players mainly use a point-and-click method to play, where they click on objects or characters to interact with them. The game has a world that continues to exist even when players are not playing, and players can talk to each other and explore the environment. Players control a human character and can interact with non-player characters (NPCs), objects, and other characters by clicking on them and choosing an action from a menu that appears when they right-click. Players can earn experience points to improve specific skills, which makes their character stronger in different ways. Players can also complete tasks given by NPCs to receive rewards.

Old School RuneScape also includes a special game mode called "Ironman," where players cannot trade items with others, even during battles against other players. This mode is designed to feel like a single-player game. Introduced in October 2014, Ironman Mode increases the difficulty by requiring players to gather all their own resources. Other versions of this mode also prevent players from storing items or allow only one character death. Another mode called "Deadman Mode" is a separate game server where players can fight each other in open-world battles. Players in Deadman Mode earn experience points faster. If a player defeats another player, they receive many of the defeated player's items, including those stored away, and the defeated player loses a large amount of their skill levels.

Setting

Old School RuneScape is set in the fictional world of Gielinor. This world is divided into kingdoms, such as Misthalin in the east, Asgarnia in the center, and Kandarin in the west. Gielinor is home to many intelligent creatures, including humans, vampyres, elves, monkeys, dwarves, fairies, gnomes, goblins, trolls, ogres, tortugans (humanoid turtles), and giants.

The history of Gielinor is divided into five Ages. During the First Age, Guthix, the god of balance, created Gielinor. In the Second Age, Guthix went to sleep, and other gods began to rule Gielinor. The change from the Second Age to the Third Age happened when Zamorak, the top general of the Zarosian empire, betrayed Zaros and became the god of chaos.

The Third Age included the God Wars, a massive war between many gods of Gielinor. Zamorak, now a god, led this war, which lasted for 4,000 years. The war ended when Zamorak destroyed the region of Forinthry, turning it into the dangerous area called the Wilderness. This destruction woke Guthix, who was angry about the damage. Guthix led his army to Forinthry, stopped the war, and created the Edicts of Guthix, which removed all other gods from Gielinor.

After this, Guthix went into hiding and slept deeply. The end of the God Wars marked the end of the Third Age and the start of the Fourth Age. During the Fourth Age, the surviving races worked to rebuild their world. After 2,000 years, human mages rediscovered Runecrafting, the skill of making runestones to use magic. This discovery began the Fifth Age, which is the current time in Old School RuneScape. In this age, humans are the most powerful race.

Development and release

In August 2007, a complete backup of RuneScape was found. This backup shows the game exactly as it was at that time. Jagex, the company that makes RuneScape, confirmed that this backup could be used to recreate the game with effort and time.

Because the number of players was decreasing and many players disliked recent updates, Jagex’s CEO, Mark Gerhard, announced a poll in February 2013. The poll asked if players wanted a version of RuneScape based on the 2007 backup. The company explained that the backup was stored in its archives and that the game had changed a lot in the five years since 2007. The poll aimed to measure player interest and included promises about how the game would be maintained based on the number of votes received. After two weeks, the poll reached the required number of votes (449,351), though it did not reach the 500,000 goal. Jagex still added three of the five highest-tier rewards, including polls for new content, better bot protection, and no extra fees to play Old School RuneScape.

Old School RuneScape was released for Windows and macOS on February 22, 2013. At first, only members with subscriptions could play the game. Non-members could access limited free areas starting in February 2015.

Old School RuneScape receives regular updates and new content. Most changes are decided through in-game polls. If at least 70% of paying players vote "Yes," the changes are added. Some fan suggestions have been tested in polls and added to the game if approved.

Some features not available in RuneScape before 2007 were later added to Old School RuneScape. New content unique to Old School includes a palaeontology-themed island, sailboats for sea travel, and new regions like "Great Kourend" and "Varlamore." Existing areas have more minigames, quests, bosses, and training activities. New late-game content includes pets and raids. Tools for managing player groups were also added.

A mobile version of Old School RuneScape was released for Android and iOS in 2018 after being shown at a game conference. It became the most downloaded mobile game in eight countries within two weeks, with over a million downloads. The game was released on Steam on February 24, 2021.

In September 2021, a third-party mod called "117Scape's HD Plugin" was released. This mod improves the game’s visuals while keeping its original style.

Old School RuneScape released an update called "Varlamore: Part One" on March 20, 2024. This update added a new area named Varlamore, with its capital city called "Civitas illa Fortis." Players who complete the quest "Children of the Sun" can explore Varlamore and participate in activities like Hunter’s Guild tasks, defeating the "Moons of Peril" boss, or competing in the "Fortis Colosseum."

"Varlamore: The Rising Darkness" (Part Two) was released on September 25, 2024. This update included new quests, areas, a boss named "Hueycoatl," an agility course, and a herblore activity called "Mastering Mixology."

"Varlamore: The Final Dawn" (Part Three) was released on July 23, 2025. This update added more quests, areas, a new boss called "Doom of Mokhaiotl," and a fletching minigame called "Vale Totems." A reward proposal from February 5, 2025, outlined plans for new quests, a slayer dungeon, a delve boss, and new rewards.

Esports

An esports tournament called "Wilderness Wars" took place at the 61st Insomnia Gaming Festival on August 26, 2017.

Jagex organizes recurring "Deadman Tournaments" where players can compete for a chance to join a final round that offers money prizes. ESL, an esports company, organized the fourth Deadman competition. The Autumn Finals in September 2018 had a grand prize of $20,000. For most major events, coverage is provided by esports organizations and personnel who give live commentary, analysis, and interviews during the event, similar to how sports events are covered. The main way professional coverage is shared is through the live streaming platform Twitch.tv.

Deadman: Reborn happened in 2021. The next Deadman Mode tournament, Deadman: Apocalypse, began on August 25, 2023.

At RuneFest 2019, Jagex introduced a new high-speed game mode called "Old School RuneScape Leagues," which is similar to Deadman Mode. Leagues operate as separate game instances and are only available for a limited time, usually two months. Players in this mode compete to progress quickly and achieve goals before the time ends. Those who join specific servers start with new characters, earn experience faster, and can unlock special permanent rewards. At the end of each League, players receive trophies based on points earned from completing tasks. These points can be used to claim rewards for their main accounts or saved for future Leagues.

The first League, called "Twisted," ran from November 14, 2019, to January 16, 2020. Players in this League could only explore the Kebos Lowlands and Great Kourend regions. The second League, "Trailblazer," started on October 28, 2020, and ended on January 6, 2021. Players began in Misthalin, could unlock Karamja for free, and had to choose three out of seven locked regions to explore. The third League, "Shattered Relics," took place from January 19 to March 16, 2022. In this League, players had full access to the game world but needed to earn special currency to unlock skills, bosses, and other features. Relics, which were powerful items from previous Leagues, were made weaker in this version but could be combined for bonus effects.

The positive response to Leagues led to the creation of the first RuneScape 3 League, called "Catalyst," which ran from September 15 to November 10, 2025.

In 2025, from October 15 to November 12, Old School RuneScape hosted a community event called "Grid Master." This temporary game mode allowed players to create new Ironman accounts. Participants completed tasks listed on a 7×7 bingo grid, earning rewards for completing tasks, full rows or columns, and Grid Points that could be used in the main game.

Reception

Professional reviews of Old School RuneScape have mostly been positive. Critics have praised the game for adding new features while keeping the traditional gameplay style of RuneScape. PC Gamer gave the game a score of 77 out of 100.

PC World described it as a "nostalgic experience," meaning it makes players feel like they are playing an old game. Rock, Paper, Shotgun noted that the company behind the game is excited about both its past and future. The Cambridge News wrote that the game has honored its origins and expanded on them to create a nostalgic player-versus-player (PvP) experience. Heavy.com said the game’s sense of nostalgia keeps players engaged and includes a feature called “player killing,” which was removed earlier. GamesIndustry.biz mentioned that while some might think the game’s popularity is only because of nostalgia, its continued growth over four years shows there is more to it.

Old School RuneScape was nominated for the "Heritage" and "Best Role-Playing Game" awards at The Independent Game Developers' Association Awards in 2018 and 2019. It won the "EE Mobile Game of the Year" award at the 15th British Academy Games Awards. It also won the "Best Mobile Game" award at the Develop:Star Awards and was nominated for "Best Innovation." Additionally, it was nominated for "Game of the Year" and "Best Live Ops" at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards.

Like RuneScape, Old School RuneScape has a free-to-play (F2P) version with limited content. The game earns money through membership subscriptions from players who pay to access the full version. Players can buy memberships directly from Jagex or through Bonds, which are items that can be exchanged for membership or sold for in-game currency.

Old School RuneScape has more players than RuneScape 3. It reached one million users in October 2013. In November 2023, it had a record high of 185,123 players online at the same time.

Controversies

The game community strongly disagrees with adding microtransactions because the rules of RuneScape do not allow players to buy or sell in-game items, gold, or services with real money. Even though players who earn in-game gold to sell for real money may face account bans, many continue to collect Old School RuneScape gold to sell on outside websites. For some Venezuelan players, earning and selling in-game gold has become a main way to earn money because of the country’s economic problems. In 2019, players earned about US$0.50 for every 1 million in-game gold coins. Some players feel sorry for those in difficult situations, while others worry that selling gold harms the game’s economy and community. Players who speak Spanish or live in Venezuela have faced more unfair treatment from others in the community because of their connection to gold farming.

Throughout the year, Old School RuneScape introduces special holiday events where players complete seasonal tasks to earn unique rewards. In the early days of RuneScape, these event items became rare and valuable because they could no longer be obtained after the event ended. This made simple items like pumpkins and Christmas hats very expensive. In 2003, Jagex said future seasonal items would not be traded between players, explaining that they wanted to avoid making some players unfairly rich. After Old School RuneScape launched, players voted to make all past event rewards available again every year.

In June 2017, a holiday event with an LGBT pride theme caused disagreement because some players thought it was too political for the game’s fantasy setting. Jagex responded by saying they did not intend to make a political statement but wanted to celebrate empathy, acceptance, and love. In 2022, similar pride-themed events were added again without problems. These events occurred yearly until 2025, offering players new rainbow-colored clothing and accessories.

In 2025, Jagex announced no new pride-themed events would be held. The company’s CEO, Jon Bellamy, explained that pride-related content had become more controversial and now carries more risks than before.