I was worried this MMO's first new skill in over 12 years would change things too much, but Sailing in Old School RuneScape feels just like home

There is no such thing as horses in Old School RuneScape. Given you can teleport just about anywhere with the right magic level, that's not a huge issue. But it does mean that in lieu of anything equestrian, the second-best form of transport is a ship. This has traditionally meant paying NPCs to ferry us around, but with the upcoming addition of Sailing – Old School RuneScape's first all-new skill – we'll be able to captain vessels of our own.

I've been nervous to see how Sailing is incorporated. Old School RuneScape has taken on a life of its own since starting out as a faithful version of RuneScape as it was in 2007, but Sailing will be the biggest change to the game we've ever seen. Jagex's stewardship of those old-school vibes will be fundamentally tested – but from trying Sailing out for myself at RuneFest over the weekend, I'm feeling very good about how it'll slot in.

This blue part here is land

Sailing – as in, literally making your boat move – is simple. You can jump into your vessel from a dock, and once at sea, unfurl your sails and click to navigate. It's as basic as walking anywhere on land, though you'll be rewarded with XP and a speed boost if you pay attention to wind picking up and tying your sails to catch it. You can see other players' boats, making shores nice and lively, though you don't have to faff around with unit collisions – the mere fact that your ship takes up space isn't the same issue it is in the likes of Sea of Thieves or Assassin's Creeds seafaring stints in Odyssey or Black Flag.

Just as most skills in RuneScape have multiple ways to train them, Sailing doesn't fit neatly into one course of action. As I learn the ropes in a tutorial quest, sailing from Port Sarim with Sea Shanty 2 at my back, two NPC crewmates teach me how to salvage. It boils down to lowering a hook into the sea and waiting to see what it turns up, and feels like a low-intensity training method akin to fishing and woodcutting. I don't get to try it for very long – the second I hoist up a strange medallion, my tutors decide I'm no longer needed and chuck me overboard.

Fast-forward after washing up at newly-added pirate port Pandemonium, and I'm back at sea minus one flashy sailboat and two less-flashy mutineers. I'm sailing on my lonesome with a beat-up raft, which I'm paying off by picking up goods from Port Sarim and bringing back to Pandemonium. I've got to use Construction to build a cargo hold (see: a single rickety chest) which suggests there'll be at least some overlap with RuneScape's other skills, but for this particular demo Sailing largely stands as its own entity.

King of the pirates

It's during my round voyage from Pandemonium to Port Sarim that Sailing really clicks. Captaining a boat – though calling my raft that is a stretch – is far less click-intensive than the likes of Mining and Agility, and Gielinor's seas have been significantly fleshed-out. Once-blank stretches of ocean now have names for particular coasts and straits, while a significant amount of new islands have been sprinkled all over. There's a real, palpable sense of adventure – the strongest I've felt since arriving in Lumbridge in 2007, or unlocking Isafdar for the first time after Underground Pass. Being so bright-eyed about everything whilst cruising past the shores of Tutorial Island feels extra-poignant, and I'm looking forward to seeing if and how existing areas of the game evolve to slot in with Sailing.

I spend the rest of my time leveling Sailing by taking work from a billboard, which at my low level means ferrying goods back and forth from Port Sarim. There are a few things I don't get to try, but will be a part of Sailing when it arrives in full – like bounties to claim by fighting at sea, Barracuda Trials (which involve navigating trickier waters and completing set objectives as quickly as possible), and more in-depth customization options for ships. There are also certain areas which are outright too dangerous to sail through without a high enough Sailing level, and yes, I once again found myself swimming back to shore after thinking I could cut through a storm.

Though that leaves plenty to be seen, what's here is already impressive. I worried Sailing would feel more like a minigame than a traditional skill – I didn't click with RuneScape's Dungeoneering for that reason – but its training methods seem to cover all bases depending on how engaging you like your grind. The task-based work I took reminded me of my favorite skill, Slayer, which similarly bounces you between locations before any one dungeon gets stale. Unless you're one of the Gielinor's many sailors who make their living fleecing players for passage between ports, there's a look to look forward to – and if all goes well following another alpha test this month, we'll be taking to the seas later this year.

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