Recently, I’ve started playing some RuneScape again, most particularly RuneScape 3, and so far, been enjoying it.
If you’ve known me for a very long time, you probably remember that I used to contribute to a small RuneScape-related project, OpenRSC. That project is basically a re-creation of oldschool RuneScape as an Open-Source project, mainly written in Java.
At the time (when I say that, that’s pre-2020), I made them a launcher for the game, which somehow worked. My code quality of the time was abysmal, and the launcher was reworked around 2021 and is still being maintained to this day (shoutout to the devs that have been keeping it alive for so long!).
Until a few weeks ago, this was my whole experience with RuneScape. Ironically, despite making the launcher, I didn’t end up playing much OpenRSC, finding Oldskool RuneScape quite boring in the end.
Fast forward to 2026 and I’m reading some messages online warning people to not play RuneScape 3. People in the post mention the game being too simplified, gaining experience too quickly and such. One thing is that RuneScape has a free version, which means it would cost nothing to try. I installed Bolt Launcher, and got started right away.
Now, after a few weeks of playing, I can definitely say it’s quite fun. Actually, I even ended up taking a subscription to access all the members-only content.
Looking back at that online post, I honestly find the described weaknesses of RuneScape 3 to be its strength. My issue with OSR was it’s very abstract in the sense that there are no defined directions; you are in a sandbox, and you need to go do stuff on your own. When an experience begins like that, I have trouble setting my own goals and such, which makes me abandon it faster.
RS3 solves that issue by always having something to look forward to. For instance, a fairly prominent window of the interface shows potential achievement paths or quests that I could do.
Same with the increased experience gains, instead of mindlessly grinding all the time, I can focus on doing quests now. Some are even voiced, which I absolutely love. The dubbing is used quite sparingly, but always ends up making the quests more immersive.
It also seems that the gambling aspect I vaguely remember was removed after a community survey, and quite recently actually.
In any case, I like playing once in a while and will continue to do so for now. If you want to try and catch me in-game, my nick is Jae Dnull and I usually play on world 105 (Finland, members only, lootshare enabled).
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