RuneScape Reignited Will Launch Dec. 2 as RuneScape 4 Remains in Early Development
The 2001-era refresh starts characters at level 3 and offers a 10-day membership-free trial, while RuneScape 4 begins in Ashenfall.
RuneScape Reignited will launch Dec. 2, 2026, bringing players to a refreshed Gielinor modeled on the MMORPG’s 2001 debut. Jagex also revealed RuneScape 4, a separate MMO being built in Unreal Engine. It will be the first RuneScape game built with the engine, and it remains a few years away.
Every Reignited character starts at level 3 in a fresh economy without paid progression or Treasure Hunter. Jagex’s October 3 announcement describes the shared starting point as a way to help newcomers and returning players who feel lost or left behind. Reignited is a character path rather than a reset of the wider game, and its characters will join Gielinor alongside existing players, much like Ironman characters do.
The opening journey starts in Lumbridge, with new hiscores and a remastered take on the early game. Jagex is updating the interface, onboarding, quests and environments for current standards, with further improvements planned through 2027 and beyond. Parts II and III are planned for later in 2027. The experience will also support plugins such as Quest Helper, while Jagex says it has removed unpopular systems and implemented hundreds of player-requested changes.
A new adventure guide will offer a recommended route through the game’s features, giving new and returning players a way into its broad catalog of content. The Hall of Legends will recognize world-first milestones in Reignited. Jagex gave reaching 99 Woodcutting as an example, saying the first player to reach it would receive an in-game statue of their character.
Everyone will have free access to members’ content for the first 10 days after launch, through Dec. 12. The full game will be available on regular members’ worlds without a membership during that period, giving players time to try the relaunch before deciding whether to subscribe.
RuneScape 4 begins in Ashenfall
RuneScape 4’s story takes place in the Sixth Age, years after the destruction of the Dragon Queen Kuldra. Ashenfall, a landmass first explored in RuneScape: Dragonwilds, is its starting point, and Jagex plans to expand the new MMO into the rest of Gielinor over time.
Jagex showed a teaser trailer for RuneScape 4 during RuneFest 2026.
RuneScape 4 is separate from Dragonwilds, not an expansion for it. At a RuneFest roundtable, Dragonwilds executive producer Jesse America described an earlier plan for a 2027 expansion called Shadows of Ashenfall. Its proposed features included persistent servers, large player populations, a social hub and player-to-player trading. After early prototypes and design work pointed to a much broader scope, Jagex developed the concept as a standalone MMO instead.
Jagex wants players involved in RuneScape 4’s development from the beginning, drawing on technical lessons from Dragonwilds and community co-development in RuneScape and Old School RuneScape. The studio plans to share more in 2027. Platforms, accounts, membership, combat and skills have not yet been decided.
Jagex says RuneScape 4 will not replace RuneScape, Old School RuneScape or Dragonwilds. Each game will have its own team and roadmap, with continued investment.
Which part of RuneScape 4’s early plans, from its Ashenfall setting to its place alongside the existing games, would you most like Jagex to explain? As Jagex develops RuneScape 4 and prepares Reignited’s later chapters, stay connected on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam and Telegram.
