Fifteen years is a long time, especially where video games are concerned. Whereas developers traditionally keep their franchises fresh through sequels, add-ons and engine upgrades for greater visual fidelity, MMOs like RuneScape are a different beast altogether.
Designed as games with experiences that are intended to last for as long as possible by way of a large social space and open world, they’re often left behind on the technology front. You only have to look at the vanilla areas in Blizzard’s World Of Warcraft to see evidence of that fact.
British studio Jagex knows this all too well, and in an effort to give its long-running MMO RuneScape a fresh coat of paint, they’ve officially released a brand new game client – NXT – to bring it up to date for a modern audience. Having been previously written in Java code, this new client runs on an entirely new game engine, says Jagex.
A statement on the game’s official website says:
NXT – RuneScape’s all-new game client – is here! This means better RuneScape performance than ever before, and it looks great too – vast viewing distances, dynamic shadows and beautiful lighting effects. NXT is designed to get the most out of your hardware, looks fantastic and runs smoothly across the board.
You can watch the release trailer above to get an idea of what RuneScape looks like today, or head over to the official website for more details on what else is new with NXT.