Early access survival games can feel like a dime a dozen these days, but RuneScape: Dragonwilds is already impressing people with its flashy magic spells and cozy building mechanics. There's a lot to love about Dragonwilds already, but Jagex has more surprises in store for the road ahead.
Jagex hasn't said how long RuneScape: Dragonwilds will be in early access for, but there's already a solid early access roadmap that gives us an idea of what to expect in Ashenfall over the coming months. If you feel like the game is missing something or could use some polish in certain areas, odds are your wishes are on the roadmap.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds Roadmap
The RuneScape: Dragonwilds roadmap doesn't have any dates or estimated release windows for its major additions, but we're hoping to see the headlining features like new regions and skill trees sooner rather than later.
"All of this is subject to player feedback," Jagex said during its Developer Deep-dive livestream on launch day. "When we launch into early access we want to know what's working with you, what isn't working, what's gelling, and what we can prioritize. So this is all subject to change. We don't want to put deadlines or dates on this because it will be ready when it's ready."
Here's a brief overview of what you can expect to see from RuneScape: Dragonwilds in its upcoming patches.
- New region and new dragon overlord
- Magic, ranged, and farming skills
- RuneScape-related quests, lore, gear, and music
- New enemy type: Lesser Dragons
- Dragon Slayer gear
- Masterwork weapons
- Expanded base building
- Hardcore mode
- Creative mode
- New vaults
- New crafting tiers
- Raised skill caps
RuneScape: Dragonwilds new biome
Fellhollow and the Soul-Eater, Imaru
The headlining feature of the RuneScape: Dragonwilds roadmap, the Fellhollow region will likely be the star of the game's first major update. Ashenfall already has several biomes, but Fellhollow will shake things up with a spooky twist.
"Fellhollow is a region suspended between life and death," Jagex sas, and is occupied by ghosts, skeletons, and undead ogres. It has a different vibe from the existing regions of Ashenfall, but RuneScape fans can look forward to the returning character Death, who will help guide them through the ghostly biome with quests and advice.
Fellhollow is ruled by a new dragon overlord named Imaru. Slaying dragons is a big part of Dragonwilds, so it's no surprise to see a big new biome come with its own dragon. Imaru is corrupted by the cursed energy of the Underworld and the anima that permeates Ashenfall, so he sounds like he'll be even tougher to beat than the dragons in Ashenfall at launch.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds new skills
Magic, ranged, and farming skills
It wouldn't be a RuneScape game without endless level grinding, and future Dragonwilds updates will add even more skill trees with new abilities and passive buffs to enjoy. Magic, Ranged, and Farming are the first set of post-launch skills coming to RuneScape: Dragonwilds, but sadly, there's no estimated release date for these.
Magic and Ranged weapons already exist in the game right now, but they don't have their own skill trees like melee weapons. With the current spread of skills in Dragonwilds, melee weapons feel like the strongest of the bunch purely because of their skill progression. This future update means that archers and mages will also get new passive stat bonuses and skill abilities as they level.
Farming, on the other hand, is an entirely new addition to Dragonwilds. Everyone has to eat and it's easy to work up an appetite while exploring Ashenfall, so the ability to grow your own food will be a huge relief. Right now, you just have to pluck potatoes and cabbages from the ground at random or hunt down animals for meat. Staring at the floor and mashing the E key to stock up on veggies isn't ideal, so hopefully the Farming skill makes its way to Dragonwilds soon.
Other RuneScape: DragonWilds updates
More RuneScape roots
Even though Dragonwilds is a spinoff, it's still a RuneScape game at its core. More RuneScape stuff is coming to Dragonwilds throughout the early access period, but Jagex is keeping things close to its chest when it comes to details.
The roadmap mentions quests, lore, gear, and music, which isn't much to go off of. Given the details we have regarding Fellhollow, we can probably assume that more familiar faces from RuneScape will be joining Dragonwilds as quest givers to guide players through new content. Lore books are already scattered throughout Ashenfall, too, so a few more will probably be sprinkled here and there to further flesh out the game's world.
New gear is on the way as well, but that's about as vague as you can get for a combat-focused survival game like this one. The roadmap mentions Dragon Slayer gear and masterwork weapons, so you can look forward to new weapon upgrade systems in addition to new armor. The fashion game is already strong in Dragonwilds with capes and other things, so here's hoping that Jagex adds even more drip down the line.
Ongoing Improvements
The final section of the roadmap describes ongoing improvements that don't get their own fancy images and bold headings, but they're still substantial updates.
In addition to the new gear and weapon systems described above, Lesser Dragons are coming to RuneScape: Dragonwilds sometime in the future. Fighting dragons is a key part of the game, but you only get to do it so often. Lesser Dragons will make these fights more common without stealing the thunder from the showdowns with dragon overlords. New critters and animals will also be added to liven up Ashenfall's wilderness, so Jagex isn't just adding stuff that wants to kill you.
There will also be base building enhancements in future patches. New furniture items and construction blueprints are a given, but Jagex also teases homesteading features and building defences as well, which will be useful for fighting back those enemy raids that can happen to your base at night. New crafting tiers are also on the way, and that means stronger walls and floors for your base.
All of these new enemies, gear, and blueprints have to come from somewhere, and that's where the new vaults come in. These are basically dungeons with winding paths and tough bosses, so new challenges are on the way. There's no better place to test out that new equipment.
Hardcore and creative modes are listed on the roadmap as well, so you'll have even more control over your Dragonwilds worlds in the future. Creative mode will let you play around with the game's excellent building system on your own terms, while hardcore mode will likely increase enemy difficulty and make death more punishing.
Finally, Jagex will continue to make minor stability improvements to RuneScape: Dragonwilds throughout the early access period. The roadmap promises better messaging and tutorialization to help ease new players into the game, and tweaks to multiplayer and difficulty scaling are planned as well. Lighting and weather will be tweaked in upcoming patches, and combat will be fine tuned and balanced as players provide feedback.
Performance is the biggest thing mentioned in the ongoing improvements section of the roadmap. Players are reporting low framerates and other issues with the early access version of Dragonwilds, so some optimizations are much appreciated. If you're disappointed with how RuneScape: Dragonwilds runs on Steam Deck, don't give up hope just yet.
