RuneScape and Old School RuneScape Announcements Included a New Expansion, Leagues, and New Challenges

For the first time since 2019 RuneFest returned, and there was no shortage of big announcements for RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, including a new RS expansion, and the long-awaited Sailing skill in OSRS.

In RuneScape,  today, Runecrafting’s cap goes up to 110 and the Time rune becomes available. In May, we’ll see new tools that will let you train Invention and more options. Crafting will be next to get the 110 cap in June. 

Pharaoh's Folly, the next Return to the Desert update, arrives April 7th and the final chapter, Eclipse of the Heart, on July 28th. This will conclude the Desert storyline with a final showdown with Amascut herself in a five-person group battle.

The next expansion, Havenhythe, is coming in early 2026, with a second part set for 2027.  There will be a new area expansion, mysterious biomes and new locations, new bosses to challenge, Skilling activities (and Hunter cap aise to 110), and a brand new storyline that brings you to confrontation with the Vampyres.  

We'll get the first part of the big storyline and in 2027, the second part will take us into another new place: Vampyrium.

Later this year, RuneScape will also get RuneScape League, a limited-time fresh start mode  with accelerated XP gains and gear drop rates. Complete tasks as you adventure to unlock an assortment of overpowered items and passives to create a different way to play.

After being playable for RuneFest attendees, the Sailing alpha will begin this month in Old School RuneScape. The skill has been in development alongside the community for two years now, with the initial choice of sailing topping a poll for the first-ever skill. You'll start off on a tiny raft and through skilling, you'll be able to level and become an experienced captain with your own crew, able to traverse peaceful and treacherous waters, salvage resources, and even engage in naval combat against krakens, leviathans, and pirates. 

OSRS will also get a new boss challenge, a duo that debuts first with Yama this spring, and delve boss, the Doom of Mokhaiotl, later. In the summer, Varlamore: The Final Dawn, is set to release, featuring new quest and newadventures in Auburnvale, Custodia Pass, and the Tlati Rainforest.

Signups have also opened to playtest Project Zanaris, the feature for OSRS that will let players create their own ways to play, with custom rules and customizable worlds. First tests are aimed for April.

Finally, HD mode is coming sometime to Old School RuneScape this summer as an optional new optimized mode.