Runescape dev wants to incorporate a "BioWare style of storytelling" in the future

Runescape developer Jagex has said it wants to incorporate a more "BioWare style of storytelling" in future updates of the game.

In an interview with VG247, product director Matt Casey and senior game designer Tim Fletcher discussed the recently finished Elder God Wars saga and revealed that one of the team’s aspirations for the long-running MMO-RPG is to "get RuneScape up there with the big fantasy IPs" in terms of storytelling. 

In particular, Fletcher expressed an interest in taking a page out of Dragon Age and Mass Effect developer BioWare’s book by saying: "We want to get more involved in the politics of the humans and we’ve been looking at a sort of Bioware style of storytelling where companions and characters play a larger part."

In the same interview, Fletcher also explained that the Runescape team at Jagex "changed the way we deliver story quite a lot last year," he goes on to explain that previously, RuneScape was divided into different areas, "We’d release a boss, then a quest would come out that had nothing to do with that boss, then 2 years later another quest would follow up on that quest. It was scattered." 

Fletcher continues, "last year we focused on delivering a much more tightly paced narrative that wove through most of the content we released." 

In other Runescape news, earlier this year it was revealed that Jagex’s MMO will be getting a board game and tabletop RPG this year. The board game is being developed by Steamforged Games (who previously adapted the Horizon Zero Dawn board game) and will arrive on Kickstarter later this year. As for the tabletop RPG, this will be going straight to retail and will be compatible with the current edition of D&D. So Runescape fans should keep an eye for those two. 

Looking for an alternative game to play now? Take a look at our list of games like Runescape for inspiration.