About the game
RuneScape: Dragonwilds is a co-op survival crafting game for one to four players, set on Ashenfall, a forgotten continent of the RuneScape universe where the dragons have awoken once more. If you came looking for Jagex's classic MMO, this isn't that game: the mold here sits far closer to Valheim than to the Gielinor you know.
What it is and what sets it apart
The loop is pure open-world survival: you gather resources, level up skills, build and decorate a base, farm, and fight with a combat system that blends melee weapons, bows, and magic. It all pushes toward the same horizon: taking on the Dragon Queen, solo or with up to three allies. What Dragonwilds keeps from its lineage is the tone, the names, and that unmistakable skill-based progression; what it changes is just about everything else.
Business model
Dragonwilds is buy-to-play: you pay once, with no subscription and no microtransactions — a deliberate break from historic RuneScape's model. In early access it launched at $29.99 / £24.99, and Jagex has already flagged that the price will rise once the full version arrives. Every early-access update is free, though the studio has left the door open to selling post-launch content as paid DLC. It's sold mainly on Steam, and co-op requires linking Steam and Epic Games accounts.
Current status
It remains in early access, following its shadow-drop on April 15, 2025. The current build is 0.10, 'Fellhollow: Hunger of Imaru' (December 2025), which added a whole new region, the farming skill, a dragon boss —Imaru, the soul devourer— and eleven new enemy types. The 2026 roadmap promises four major updates (one per quarter) plus smaller monthly patches, with 1.0 targeted for late 2026, when the game should also reach PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2. Commercially it started strong: over 600,000 copies in the first week and more than a million by mid-2026, holding a Mostly Positive rating on Steam.
Who it's for
It's a game for anyone who enjoys survival built on gathering, building, and progressing together —fans of Valheim and its kin— and for RuneScape veterans curious to see that universe from another angle. You don't need to have touched the MMO: Dragonwilds stands on its own. It has genuine charm, a strong building system, and combat that hooks you.
The catch is the one you'd expect this early: half-finished systems, content that still feels incomplete, and the usual early-access rough edges. If you'd rather wait for it to mature, the late-2026 1.0 is a reasonable point to jump in; if you like growing alongside a game —and playing it with friends along the way— there's already plenty here to sink dozens of hours into.