Runescape 4 is real. After laying out a whole wealth of content coming to its longstanding MMORPG at Runefest 2026, along with an animated series made in collaboration with Charlie ‘MoistCr1tikal’ White, Jagex confirmed that it’s currently working on an all-new game, dubbed the “fourth pillar” of the studio alongside OSRS and Dragonwilds. It’ll likely be quite some time before we get our hands on it, but that’s okay, because the Runescape 3 roadmap is looking rather stacked right now, including a “new beginning” this December with Runescape Reignited, which you’ll be able to try for free at launch.
I didn’t come into this year’s festivities expecting a completely new Runescape MMO, yet I absolutely got chills as the teaser of adventurers wandering through city streets and flying across the skies of a fully 3D world played out. Could it be? Then, the fade to black, and a burning ‘4.’ The design is very much that of Runescape Dragonwilds, definitively cartoony and bright, albeit much more ‘realistic’ in its visuals than what we’re used to from the MMO side of the series. For the time being, we’re just told that it’s “in development,” although Dragonwilds Executive Producer Jesse America was able to give me some additional details prior to the reveal during a roundtable presentation.
“On the Dragonwilds roadmap at a certain point, there was something called Shadows of Ashenfall in 2027.” America explains that this was planned to deliver the fundamentals and artstyle of the survival game players already loved, but with more of a social focus. “We actually made designs for an expansion that would lift up Dragonwilds into the realm of the typical Jagex game with persistent servers, high player counts, and lots of social features. A social hub, player-to-player trading, all of that good stuff you see in the MMOs.”
America says the team at Jagex “embraced that challenge with a lot of creative ambition and a lot of enthusiasm,” but quickly started to realize from the early prototypes that what they were building “essentially would be an MMO, and that it deserved its own game – not to be a part of Dragonwilds, but to stand alone as Jagex’s fourth, new pillar.” He notes that it’s still “really early days,” but that the entire studio is working on the project together. “In due time, we will have more information about all of it.”
Putting that excitement aside, the other big reveal for the modern game is a flash back to its past: Runescape Reignited. If OSRS is essentially the Jagex equivalent to World of Warcraft Forever – having returned to a distinct point in the MMO’s history before branching out to become something independent and new – then Reignited is Runescape Classic. It’s set to launch on Tuesday December 2, and takes us back 25 years to experience a remastered Gielinor as it was when it first released in 2001.
“This is a relaunch of this game that we all love,” Associate Creative Director Ryan Philpott explains, where you’ll start from scratch with a new character and experience Runescape “as if it was released today.” Jagex is working to make sure the UI flow, onboarding, quests, and environments are all polished “to hold up to modern standards.” For launch, that’s focused on the early experience, with work set to continue “moving into 2027 and beyond.”
Reignited will feature a new ‘adventure guide’ to support your journey and make sure you have the tools and knowledge to succeed. “We know that Runescape is a huge game of massive breadth and depth over the last 25 years, and we know that it can be overwhelming at times to either start out or to return.” The adventure guide is therefore your “recommended journey through the game, featuring the key features: sort of a ‘curated path’ of what Runescape has to offer.”
Additionally, the launch of Runescape Reignited allows Jagex to offer another new feature. “We’re going to be introducing something called the Hall of Legends, a place where we’re going to immortalize players who achieve the world first as part of playing Reignited. The first person to, say, reach 99 Woodcutting – they’re going to have a statue of their character placed in-game within the Hall of Legends to immortalize themselves in our game forever.” To celebrate Reignited’s release, there will even be a ten-day free trial for all.
For those who just want to keep playing modern Runescape, you aren’t being left in the dirt either – far from it. Jagex’s 2027 Runescape roadmap can be seen above, and it kicks off this month with the official release of community plugins, giving you more ways to customize your experience. Beyond that, the coming year is broken up into three distinct story arcs: Hoard of Dragons, City of Gnomes, and Secrets of Karamja.
Philpott tells me Horde of Dragons is planned for “the beginning of January,” and teases that “the world will evolve as the arc plays out.” This first chapter introduces the long-awaited tier upgrade that is Grandmaster Clue Scrolls, an Agility rework promising “improved game integration,” and the sequel to the Dragon Slayer quest (that’s a new take, rather than the Dragon Slayer II of OSRS). Following that is City of Gnomes, which centers around the continuation of the Gnome storyline that first began in 2002.
City of Gnomes will introduce a Grandmaster quest called The Curse of Arposandra that promises a new area along with “new combat and skilling content,” and as you might assume, that means we’ll be heading to the hidden gnome city of lore. As if we needed more confirmation of that, Jagex promises a new solo boss fight against Glouphrie, the founder of said city, along with another community skilling boss (one where non-combat skills are a main component of the encounter) involving legendary spirit tree Argento.
Last on the list is Secrets of Karamja, and little is being revealed about this for now, although we are told it’ll feature a new raid, Temple of Ah Za Rhoon. “We know players have been asking for it [Karamja] for a very long time,” Philpott remarks. Alongside all of that are more steps along Jagex’s ‘Road to Restoration,’ such as a unified collection log, a rework of the quest timeline and grouping system, improved clan finder, fresh content creator tools, and the return of the studio’s quality-of-life squad, Ninja Team.
“The whole year of 2027 is really about giving players more of what they want and more of what they’ve loved for so long, while making sure there is something for everyone,” Philpott concludes. “It doesn’t matter whether you are new to the game, or whether you’re an active player who’s been here for a long time, there’s essentially something for everyone all the way along the year.” He hopes this can get Runescape “back to where we always knew it should have been after the year of restoration,” and promises to ensure “that we don’t make those same mistakes again.”
Runescape Reignited will launch on Tuesday December 2, 2026, and you’ll be able to play the full thing for free, on regular members’ worlds, from day one through Saturday December 12 without the need for a membership. Beyond that, it seems like the sky’s the limit – and there’s plenty more to be found on the OSRS roadmap from Runefest 2026 as well, if that’s more your speed.