When I was in middle school, several of my fellow students secretly logged on toRuneScapemidway through typing class. That’s my earliest memory of a game that’s lasted for a quarter of a century, and like many of us, it’s never ceased to amaze me just how resilient RuneScape has proven itself to be.
In one of the best examples of RuneScape’s timeless charm, the ‘Return to the Sand’ series, which builds upon24 yearsof serialized storytelling, is slated to finish in style. From a small sandy subsection of 2001’s launch content for what we now call RuneScape: Classic, to the grand opening of a bustling desert new city in 2017, to a decisive battle in 2025, nothing has better exemplified the ever-expanding, yet never-resetting, mythology of one of gaming’s greatest hits.
And Now, The Conclusion
Starting July 28, the Kharidian Desert’s main tale will climax with ‘Eclipse of the Heart’. Players who wish to participate (and I reckon a lot of you will) must meet the following minimum requirements:
Setting aside the required personal accolades, I want to draw special attention to just how thoroughRuneScape’s official websitehas gotten in its heroic attempt to summarize 24 years of storytelling in what amounts to a couple of pages' worth of text. Thecommunity update post,written by the creators, tackles plot points on a year-by-year basis. It’s worth reading in full.
“Amascut has issued an ultimatum: surrender the last light of Tumeken before the new moon, or Menaphos will fall into darkness. You must rally your allies, from the desert’s citizens to the lesser gods of the Menaphite pantheon, To stand against the Goddess of Destruction and her armies, and fight for the fate of the world.” -Official description
Earlier this year, a fresh spinoff took the franchise into the bustling survival genre withRuneScape: Dragonwilds.
