RuneScape 4 is real, and Jagex wants the new MMO to live beside the worlds it grew from

Most long-running MMOs eventually face the same question: rebuild the world, or keep tending the one people already live in? For a quarter of a century Jagex has answered it by multiplying. RuneScape split into the modern game and Old School RuneScape, the preserved fork that outgrew its parent, and RuneScape: Dragonwilds carried Gielinor into survival crafting. At RuneFest this weekend, in front of more than six thousand fans at the NEC in Birmingham, the studio took the idea one step further and revealed a fourth RuneScape MMO, built in Unreal Engine for a new generation of players.

The project carries the working title RS4, which Jagex says will not be its final name, and it is very early: what was shown is a CGI concept teaser, not gameplay. It sells a mood rather than a system, with a town in a green valley, floating islands and a dragon rider under attack from a three-headed dragon. According to the studio’s announcement post, the game is set in Gielinor during the Sixth Age, years after the events of Dragonwilds, and opens in Ashenfall, the region Dragonwilds players already know, with the stated ambition of growing outward into familiar places and new ones.

The more telling design decision is what Jagex refuses to do. RS4 is explicitly not a replacement: RuneScape, Old School RuneScape and Dragonwilds each keep their own teams and roadmaps. The studio is also opening development to players far earlier than usual. “We’ve learned that our games are at their best when we build with you, not just for you,” Jagex writes, framing the reveal as an invitation to shape a world while it is still soft clay. Beyond games, it is also developing an animated RuneScape adaptation with YouTuber Charlie White, known online as MoistCr1TiKaL, and the Los Angeles production company Lyrical Media.

The rest of RuneFest belonged to the games already running. RuneScape Reignited, a reset that invites lapsed players back with a remastered journey, an adventure guide, a fresh economy and new hiscores, launches on December 2, with full Reignited access open without membership until December 12. The long-requested Plugin API arrives this month, and the game’s 2027 is split into three story arcs: Hoard of Dragons, a sequel to the Dragon Slayer quest; City of Gnomes; and Secrets of Karamja, which adds an endgame raid.

Old School RuneScape gets The Fractured Archive raid on October 20 and Hardcore Worlds on November 4. In 2027 it finally opens the gates of Menaphos, the desert city its players have waited some two decades to enter, with the Master-level quest Fool’s Gold and the game’s first skilling dungeon.

Old School RuneScape roadmap banners from The Fractured Archive to Menaphos and The Tower of Xophoros — Image: Jagex

Dragonwilds receives Luminance in December, introducing the Elves and the Prayer skill as a prelude to the Blood Crystal Saga, which begins with Song of Rebellion in early 2027. Official mod support through CurseForge, consoles included, is also planned for 2027.

RuneScape Dragonwilds multi-year roadmap showing Luminance and the Blood Crystal Saga chapters — Image: Jagex

RuneScape and Old School RuneScape are available on PC, Steam, iOS and Android; Dragonwilds is on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2. RS4 itself is, in Jagex’s words, still a few years away, which makes this reveal less a launch than the opening of the workshop doors.

Tags: Charlie White, Jagex, Old School RuneScape, RuneFest, RuneScape, RuneScape 4, RuneScape: Dragonwilds