There is something comforting about RuneScape. For millions of players, it is not simply a game but a place they have returned to for years, whether they have spent countless hours chopping trees, mining ore, cooking questionable meals, or simply wandering around Gielinor looking for something to do. So when Jagex takes that familiar world and throws it into the increasingly crowded survival-crafting genre, there is an obvious question hanging over RuneScape: Dragonwilds. Can RuneScape really work when you swap clicking your way around Gielinor for gathering resources, building shelters, and worrying about what might be lurking in the wilderness? As it turns out, rather nicely.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds takes the familiar DNA of RuneScape and gives it a completely different body. Set on the forgotten continent of Ashenfall, this cooperative survival adventure combines gathering, crafting, combat, exploration, and skill progression with a healthy dose of magic. Dragons have awakened, the landscape is fractured by wild Anima, and somewhere out there is the Dragon Queen waiting to make your life considerably more difficult. It is a surprisingly natural combination. More importantly, it feels like RuneScape rather than a generic survival game with a RuneScape logo attached to it.
Welcome To Ashenfall
Ashenfall is a wonderful setting for this kind of adventure. It is a dangerous place, certainly, but there is also a constant sense of discovery. Forests, open wilderness, mysterious ruins and resource-rich areas provide plenty of reasons to wander away from whatever you were supposed to be doing, which is exactly what makes exploration in a survival game so enjoyable.
The world also has a lovely sense of history. This is not simply a procedurally generated landscape designed to give you somewhere to put a wooden hut. There are secrets to uncover, mysteries surrounding the fractured land, and plenty of connections to the wider RuneScape universe. Even if you are not the sort of player who knows every corner of Gielinor’s history, there is enough going on to make Ashenfall feel like a proper place rather than just a playground. And then there are the dragons.
You are constantly reminded that something considerably more dangerous than you is out there. Following the trail of destruction left by these enormous creatures gives the adventure a sense of purpose, rather than leaving you endlessly gathering berries and wondering why you are still alive.
RuneScape At Heart
The cleverest thing Jagex has done is to take RuneScape’s famous skill progression and make it the backbone of a survival adventure. If you have played RuneScape before, the idea of levelling skills will feel immediately familiar. Woodcutting, Mining, Smithing, Farming, Cooking and Alchemy all have a role to play, and improving those abilities gradually opens up new possibilities. There is something deeply satisfying about returning to an area that once seemed full of resources you could not use, only to discover that your improved skills now allow you to exploit them. It also captures that wonderfully dangerous RuneScape habit of thinking, “I’ll just do one more thing.”
You might start by collecting some wood because you need to build a crafting station. Then you realise you need better tools. That means mining some ore, which means smelting it, which means finding somewhere safe to do so. Suddenly an hour has disappeared, and you are standing in the middle of the wilderness with an inventory full of materials and absolutely no idea where the time went. That is RuneScape.
Survival With A Little Magic
Where Dragonwilds really starts to separate itself from other survival games is in how it uses magic to make the familiar gathering loop considerably more interesting. Rather than spending hours slowly hacking away at every tree, you can summon a spectral axe to make the job considerably quicker. Ore can be destroyed using magical abilities, and other spells allow you to move around the world or deal with the various problems Ashenfall throws at you.
It sounds like a small thing, but it makes a surprisingly big difference. Survival games can sometimes turn resource gathering into a second job, particularly when you reach the point where you need enormous quantities of a particular material. Dragonwilds understands that RuneScape players enjoy the grind, but it also knows that the grind does not always have to be tedious.
The magic system gives the process a little personality. One moment you are doing something as ordinary as collecting resources, and the next you are turning bones into peaches or conjuring an absurd tornado of fish from a lake. It is weird, ridiculous and wonderfully RuneScape.
Building A Home In The Wilderness
Base building is another important part of the experience, giving you a place to store your increasingly ridiculous collection of resources and to establish your own little corner of Ashenfall.
There is a satisfying progression to building up your base. What begins as a basic shelter gradually becomes a much more useful home, complete with crafting stations and the equipment needed to support your increasingly ambitious adventures. It gives you a reason to care about the place you have created, rather than simply treating it as a temporary box to hide in when something nasty starts chasing you.
The Lodestone system is also a particularly nice touch for RuneScape veterans. Fast travel is incredibly useful in a game where exploration and gathering can send you across large portions of the map, and the inclusion of a familiar RuneScape mechanic helps make this strange new version of the world feel more recognisable. It is a small reminder that Jagex has not forgotten where this game came from.
When The Wilderness Bites Back
Of course, Ashenfall is not interested in letting you spend all your time peacefully decorating your house. There are plenty of creatures eager to make your day considerably worse, with familiar enemies such as Zogres and Black Knights joined by new threats, including the fearsome Garou. Combat is straightforward to grasp, but it becomes increasingly important as you venture further into dangerous territory and prepare for the game’s biggest encounters.
The dragons are naturally the stars of the show. There is something wonderfully intimidating about preparing for a confrontation with one of these creatures. You need the right equipment, useful potions, and enough confidence to believe that all those hours spent gathering materials have prepared you for what is coming.
The game does a good job of making preparation feel like part of the adventure. You are not simply wandering towards a boss because the story told you to. You are building yourself up, learning how the world works, and making sure you are ready for the consequences of picking a fight with something considerably more powerful than you.
Four Friends Are Better Than One
Although Dragonwilds can be played alone, there is a definite appeal to experiencing Ashenfall with friends. Survival games are often at their best when everyone has a role to play. One person can focus on gathering resources while another works on crafting. Someone else can prepare food and potions, and another can charge headfirst towards whatever terrifying creature has just appeared on the horizon.
That cooperative element fits RuneScape remarkably well. The series has always had a strong social identity, and sharing the workload with friends makes the otherwise familiar skill grind feel more enjoyable. There is also something particularly entertaining about watching a carefully planned expedition descend into complete chaos because someone decided that attacking a dragon without proper preparation sounded like a good idea.
The community focus is also encouraging. Jagex has clearly been listening to player feedback and shaping the game around what its audience actually wants. That willingness to adjust the experience based on how people are playing is important for a game built around long-term progression.
A Beautiful New Take On RuneScape
Visually, Dragonwilds is a significant departure from the traditional RuneScape aesthetic, yet it retains enough of the series’ identity to remain recognisable.
Ashenfall has a colourful, slightly exaggerated fantasy style that suits the game’s mix of serious threats and ridiculous magical nonsense. The creatures have plenty of character, the environments are varied, and the world generally feels pleasant to explore, even when something enormous is trying to eat you.
The music is arguably even more important. Reworked versions of classic RuneScape themes sit alongside brand-new compositions, and hearing familiar musical ideas presented in a much grander way can produce a lovely hit of nostalgia. It is the sort of soundtrack that reminds long-time players that, underneath all the new mechanics and technology, this is still RuneScape.
The Grind Is The Point
If there is one thing that will determine whether you love Dragonwilds, it is how you feel about grinding. There is no escaping the fact that this is still a game about collecting resources, improving skills, crafting better equipment, and doing it all again at the next level. If the thought of chopping trees for materials sounds unbearable, no amount of dragons or magic is going to change your mind.
For everyone else, however, the progression is incredibly satisfying. There is a particular pleasure in watching a character become more capable because of the time you have invested in them. A new ability, a better piece of equipment, or a freshly unlocked crafting recipe can completely change what you are capable of doing. The game understands that progression is not merely about bigger numbers. It is about opening doors to new parts of the world.
A RuneScape Adventure Worth Taking
RuneScape: Dragonwilds could easily have felt like a desperate attempt to follow a popular genre trend. Instead, it feels like Jagex has taken the elements that have kept RuneScape alive for so long and asked what they might look like in a survival adventure.
The result is not flawless. Some players will find the resource-gathering and repetitive progression loops a little too familiar, while those expecting the sheer depth of traditional RuneScape may find this streamlined approach somewhat limited. There is also the inevitable sense that the game is still growing into what it wants to become, particularly given Jagex’s emphasis on community feedback and ongoing development. But there is a solid foundation here, and more importantly, there is personality.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds feels like it belongs to the RuneScape family. It takes the skills, lore, creatures, magic and slightly strange sense of humour that have defined the franchise for decades and translates them into a survival-crafting adventure.
Final Verdict
There is a lot to like about RuneScape: Dragonwilds. It takes the familiar pleasure of levelling skills and collecting resources and combines them with exploration, base-building, combat and dragon hunting in a world that feels both new and comfortably familiar.
The magic system is the real secret weapon. It prevents the survival mechanics from becoming too routine and gives the game its own identity, while the RuneScape progression system provides the satisfying sense of long-term development that fans have come to expect. Throw in cooperative play, memorable creatures, a gorgeous fantasy setting and a soundtrack packed with nostalgic touches, and you have an adventure that is easy to lose yourself in. Most importantly, Dragonwilds understands something that many spin-offs struggle with. You can change the format without losing the soul.
This is not classic RuneScape, and it is not trying to be. It is a new adventure built from familiar ingredients, and when you finally stand in front of a dragon after hours of gathering, crafting, exploring and preparing, it is difficult not to feel that all those seemingly mundane little tasks were leading somewhere after all. The Dragon Queen may have the advantage, but I have always had a soft spot for the underdog.
