After more than two decades, Old School RuneScape has done something pretty wild: it filled in every single blank black square on its world map. Yep, those little mysterious patches that had players wondering “what’s out there?” are officially gone. This update arrives just as the game hits some seriously impressive player records, with over 200,000 people logged in on a random afternoon. Talk about timing!
For those who have spent hours roaming around RuneScape’s world (raises hand here, with roughly 5,000 hours clocked), the map has always been part of the magic. It started as a sprawling, partly unfinished scene filled with dark squares hinting at unexplored or upcoming content. Now, with the final chunk of Varlamore added, the entire map is complete for the first time in 21 years.
To put that in perspective, the version we know as Old School RuneScape began in 2013, but it’s based on RuneScape 2, which was released in 2004. The map itself has evolved since then, but those black squares have remained in place until now.
The OSRS wiki archives show how the map has gradually expanded over the years, with significant updates in 2018 and 2022 that opened up tundras and deserts. However, this latest update is the first time the map is totally black-square-free, as pointed out by [source]. From the creepy swamps of Morytania to the expanded fields of Varlamore and all those iconic islands like Lunar Isle and Fremennik Isles, the world is whole.
For the first time in OSRS' history, the world map is black-square free
byu/nicknamerror in2007scape
Why does this matter so much? For one, it’s a rare milestone in MMO history. Plus, it comes right as Old School RuneScape is seeing a huge surge of players, partly thanks to a wave of World of Warcraft players and streamers checking out the game this summer. Some players on Reddit were quite emotional about it, with one saying it was enough to “make a grown man cry,” while others marveled at how packed the map is with things to do.
