RuneFest returns for the first time in six years with exciting new announcements and biggest attendance ever

●        Old School RuneScape’s first ever new skill Sailing heads to the high seas with first alpha test this month

●        RuneScape Leagues brings fan-favourite Old School RuneScape game mode to RuneScape later this year

●        Playtest sign-ups now open for Old School RuneScape community worlds program Project Zanaris

●        Major RuneScape area expansion Havenhythe revealed for 2026

●        Golden Gnomes Awards celebrate RuneScape and Old School RuneScape community heroes

Cambridge, UK - Monday, 3rd March 2025 – RuneFest, the world’s biggest celebration of RuneScape, returned over the weekend with a line-up of exciting announcements, first looks, and premiere reveals of brand-new content and experiences coming to the worlds of RuneScape and Old School RuneScape throughout 2025 and beyond.

Returning for the first time since 2019, and with tickets selling out within minutes of going on-sale, RuneFest 2025 has been the biggest RuneFest yet, welcoming thousands of RuneScape fans to a jam-packed event at the NEC, Birmingham. The show opened with a surprise musical performance by accomplished guitarist, producer, and RuneScape megafan Cole Rolland who performed a ten-minute medley rock cover of classic RuneScape tracks accompanied by Jagex staff member, Mod Ash, on violin. The track is available now on streaming platforms.

Fans were able to meet their favourite J-Mods and community creators, get hands-on with the latest playable content, and be amongst the first to hear about exciting new announcements and updates coming to RuneScape and Old School RuneScape.

Old School RuneScape - Sailing Alpha Launches This Month, HD Mode & New Content Coming Soon
Set sail across the lands of Gielinor with Old School RuneScape’s first ever new skill, Sailing, playable for the first time at RuneFest 2025 and available for everybody to play in alpha later this month. Take to the seas with the Sailing update, starting off on a teeny tiny raft, and levelling up your skill as a sailor to become an experienced captain capable of commanding a crew and traversing hazardous waters. Dive with mermaids, salvage resources, and explore the far reaches of the ocean to defeat krakens, leviathans and cutthroat pirates in action-packed naval combat on the high seas of Gielinor.

For endgame players, take on an all-new challenge with a duo of new bosses, including Yama, coming to Old School RuneScape this spring, followed by the Delve boss, the Doom of Mokhaiotl. Later this summer, prepare to travel to the wilder reaches of Auburnvale, Custodia Pass, and the Tlati Rainforest as Varlamore: The Final Dawn comes to Old School RuneScape with all-new quests for players to sink their teeth into.

Also this summer, Old School RuneScape’s long-awaited HD Mode will revamp the classic MMO with enhanced graphical features, while retaining OSRS’s iconic visual identity. Arriving as a completely optional new mode, and with visuals optimised for a range of devices, experience Old School RuneScape in an all-new light when HD Mode launches later this year.

Project Zanaris Playtest Sign-Ups Now Open
Jagex announced that playtest sign-ups for Project Zanaris, the highly-requested and eagerly-anticipated community world program that lets players tweak and modify their own worlds, set their own rules, and create entirely new ways to play and experience Old School RuneScape, are now open. Players can sign up to register their interest in participating in the Project Zanaris playtests here or via the Old School RuneScape Discord, with the first wave of closed tests looking to start in April.

RuneScape - RuneScape Leagues, Havenhythe Expansion & Exciting New Content
Revealed during the RuneScape Ahead keynote, Jagex announced that RuneScape Leagues, the fan-favourite game mode first introduced in Old School RuneScape, is coming to RuneScape later this year. Arriving later this year, Leagues is a limited-time game mode where players start again from the beginning experiencing accelerated XP and rare drop rates, travelling through the land they’ll discover tasks to complete which unlock overpowered new items and passives to really change how you play the game.

Coming to RuneScape in early 2026, Havenhythe introduces a new area expansion, featuring new locations, bosses, skilling activities, and a new storyline as players take the fight to the Vampyres. Located on the East of Morytania, Havenhythe is a mysterious and isolated land, filled with lost history, bountiful resources, and multiple biomes that players will get to explore in a series of new quests throughout 2026. Uncover ancient mysteries and face a new threat feared by Gielinor’s most lethal predators in a grand adventure set across a new land, and level up your Hunter skill beyond 99 with the Hunter 110 update, introduced with Havenhythe. And, as the Havenhythe story enters its second year in 2027, prepare to journey into one of the most dangerous places in the RuneScape universe: Vampyrium.

Arriving later this year, Jagex confirmed that Pharaoh’s Folly, the second part of the Return to the Desert trilogy of quests, will release 7 April, followed by the launch of the final chapter Eclipse of the Heart on 28 July. Look forward to the epic conclusion to this 24 year-old storyline with new rewards and a monumental showdown with the goddess of destruction herself, Amascut, a new group battle designed to challenge up to five players with multiple difficulty modes.

110 Runecrafting also launches in RuneScape today alongside a brand-new rune, the Time Rune, while the launch of 110 Crafting in June will let players get their hands on new craftable high-tier Mage armour. In May, new augmentable tools will let players train Invention through Runecrafting and Thieving and discover new components to create new skilling perks for skills like Mining, Archaeology and more.

Golden Gnomes Awards celebrates RuneScape & Old School RuneScape’s community heroes
The much-loved Golden Gnomes Awards returned at RuneFest 2025 to celebrate RuneScape and Old School RuneScape’s incredible community of players, featuring 26 awards that recognised the efforts of content creators, community contributors and cosplayers. Earning the ultimate two awards, Crystal was presented with the RuneScape Creators Choice award, alongside SoloMission as OSRS Creators Choice, commemorating them both as superstars of the RuneScape community.

Beatstar x Old School RuneScape
Jagex announced that it had partnered with Beatstar to bring Amascut’s Promise (Remix) to the hit mobile music rhythm game. Available today, this exciting collaboration marks the very first song from a video game soundtrack appearing in Beatstar as a playable track, letting players experience this fan-favourite Old School RuneScape track in a whole new way.

RuneScape is available now on PC, Steam, iOS, and Android, complete with cross-platform progression and play on PC and mobile. Old School RuneScape is available now on PC, Steam, iOS, and Android, complete with cross-platform progression and play on PC and mobile.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

About Jagex
A leader in creating deep and engaging forever games that empower our communities across PC, mobile and consoles. Jagex’s flagship MMORPG, RuneScape, has welcomed over 300 million player accounts to its world and is a $1billion + lifetime revenue franchise. Today the RuneScape franchise exists beyond live operations; our titles are forever games that connect and inspire millions of players, with content and experiences both inside and outside of inexhaustible game worlds. Both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, on PC and mobile, offer ever-evolving, highly active worlds and our community-focussed development ethos empowers players to have a real say in how each game is shaped.
 
In 2022, Jagex expanded with the acquisitions of PipeWorks and Gamepires, bringing its expertise in building forever games to SCUM, a multi-million selling open-world survival title in Steam Early Access & other unannounced titles. Jagex employs more than 600 people globally, and is headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom.

More information can be found at www.jagex.com

Press Contacts:

71 Consulting:
Dave Scammell (dave@the71.net)
Becky Stow (becky@the71.net)

Jagex:
Danni Amos (danni.amos@jagex.com)
Laura Hind (laura.hind@jagex.com)