This game is an MMO, so this review is for the current patch as of writing.

I've spent a lot of time on this game across two different accounts, first as a standard account and then an ironman. My second account has been the one I've played on more and most recently, so most of my experience will be through the lens of an account who cannot trade with other players, so take that with a grain of salt.

Old School Runescape is a fun and relaxing MMO where a majority of your time is spent training up your skills in order to unlock "things" for your account, such as weapons and armor, food, potions, quests, areas, spells and most importantly, bosses.

Training skills is fairly basic, with most skills just requiring you to either use a tool at a specific location (pickaxes on rocks, rods on fish, axes on trees) or processing materials you've gathered/bought (ores at a furnace, fish on fires/ranges). There are a few skills that have specific methods of training, such as thieving, prayer, agility and the combat skills, but in the early game it usually boils down to just going to the place and doing the stuff. As you progress through the game, you become more proficient at your skills and unlock different ways to train skills, such as skilling bosses (Tempoross, Wintertodt, Zalcano), and special areas or minigames (Motherlode Mine, Blast Furnace, Hallowed Sepulchre to name a few) which range from just more efficient or AFK methods of training the skill to completely new mechanics and methods.

Combat in the most bare form is just clicking on the enemy and waiting until a victor emerges. You can heal and use potions during combat, use prayers to increase your prowess or activate special skills such as negating all damage of a certain type, increase your natural healing or protect an extra item upon death, activate special attacks with certain weapons that can deal more damage, restore your stats or lower your opponents stats among other strategies such as safespotting, combo-eating and prayer-flicking. The difficulty of the combat can really be adjusted to how efficient you want to be, with the most seasoned players perfectly flicking their prayers, eating at perfect opportunities and (more notably in PvP) constantly moving about.

Quests are unlike most MMOs of today. You'll be searching hard for two quests that resemble each other as most quests follow their own story. Some quests lead follow a progression, with a finale quest often featuring a difficult boss such as Galvek, Seren and Vanstrom Klause (although technically a sequel to this quest is still in the works), and great rewards such as access to the Gauntlet, Vorkath and Hallowed Sepulchre. The general tone of quests is very inconsistent, with quests like One Small Favour constantly poking fun at itself, while the entire Myreque questline being taken seriously with plot deaths and revelations. In fact, a lot of the humour in this game breaks the 4th wall, making references to real-life people and pop culture all the time. It's probably best not to think too much about it.

The most striking part of OSRS is the art and music, which attempts to mimic the style of 2007-era graphics and MIDI tunes. Sometimes this artstyle gets muddied, especially in brand new areas where you can see a clear improvement in texture and model design, but in general the game sticks to a somewhat consistent style. It is definitely geared towards players who want the retro style experience and appreciate games of the past two decades without the clunky design, and in this regard they've delivered.

OSRS is a player-focused, community driven game, and the developers listen and act upon player feedback. It's something that's been built up over the past 8 years and while I haven't been there for the whole experience, I've had my fair of community experience to know that the people who play and develop the game are passionate about what they do, and I can assuredly say that the game has a bright future ahead. If you're itching for a new MMO and you haven't given OSRS a try, the game has a free-to-play area that will give you a good grasp on the game. After thousands of hours, I'd easily recommend this game.

This game is an MMO, so this review is for the current patch as of writing. I've spent a lot of time on this game across two different accounts, first as a standard account and then an ironman. My second account has been the one I've played on more and most recently, so most of my experience will be through the lens of an account who cannot trade with other players, so take that with a grain of salt. Old School Runescape is a fun and relaxing MMO where a majority of your time is spent training up your skills in order to unlock "things" for your account, such as weapons and armor, food, potions, quests, areas, spells and most importantly, bosses. Training skills is fairly basic, with most skills just requiring you to either use a tool at a specific location (pickaxes on rocks, rods on fish, axes on trees) or processing materials you've gathered/bought (ores at a furnace, fish on fires/ranges). There are a few skills that have specific methods of training, such as thieving, prayer, agility and the combat skills, but in the early game it usually boils down to just going to the place and doing the stuff. As you progress through the game, you become more proficient at your skills and unlock different ways to train skills, such as skilling bosses (Tempoross, Wintertodt, Zalcano), and special areas or minigames (Motherlode Mine, Blast Furnace, Hallowed Sepulchre to name a few) which range from just more efficient or AFK methods of training the skill to completely new mechanics and methods. Combat in the most bare form is just clicking on the enemy and waiting until a victor emerges. You can heal and use potions during combat, use prayers to increase your prowess or activate special skills such as negating all damage of a certain type, increase your natural healing or protect an extra item upon death, activate special attacks with certain weapons that can deal more damage, restore your stats or lower your opponents stats among other strategies such as safespotting, combo-eating and prayer-flicking. The difficulty of the combat can really be adjusted to how efficient you want to be, with the most seasoned players perfectly flicking their prayers, eating at perfect opportunities and (more notably in PvP) constantly moving about. Quests are unlike most MMOs of today. You'll be searching hard for two quests that resemble each other as most quests follow their own story. Some quests lead follow a progression, with a finale quest often featuring a difficult boss such as Galvek, Seren and Vanstrom Klause (although technically a sequel to this quest is still in the works), and great rewards such as access to the Gauntlet, Vorkath and Hallowed Sepulchre. The general tone of quests is very inconsistent, with quests like One Small Favour constantly poking fun at itself, while the entire Myreque questline being taken seriously with plot deaths and revelations. In fact, a lot of the humour in this game breaks the 4th wall, making references to real-life people and pop culture all the time. It's probably best not to think too much about it. The most striking part of OSRS is the art and music, which attempts to mimic the style of 2007-era graphics and MIDI tunes. Sometimes this artstyle gets muddied, especially in brand new areas where you can see a clear improvement in texture and model design, but in general the game sticks to a somewhat consistent style. It is definitely geared towards players who want the retro style experience and appreciate games of the past two decades without the clunky design, and in this regard they've delivered. OSRS is a player-focused, community driven game, and the developers listen and act upon player feedback. It's something that's been built up over the past 8 years and while I haven't been there for the whole experience, I've had my fair of community experience to know that the people who play and develop the game are passionate about what they do, and I can assuredly say that the game has a bright future ahead. If you're itching for a new MMO and you haven't given OSRS a try, the game has a free-to-play area that will give you a good grasp on the game. After thousands of hours, I'd easily recommend this game.