The release of the latest chapter in the “RuneScape” franchise is fast approaching with the September launch of “Dragonwilds,” which will mark a turning point for the beloved PC franchise.
Currently available in Steam Early Access for PC players, the title is particularly notable because it will mark the first-ever “RuneScape” game to come to console devices in the MMORPG’s 25-year history.
As porting to new platforms has become much easier with Unreal Engine 5, which is what “RuneScape” maker Jagex is using to build the title, there are key aspects the team has had to pay attention to when it comes to making a game that has a good “feel” on Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S consoles when it debuts Sept. 15, in addition to “RuneScape’s” longtime home on PCs.
“The development’s been straightforward, but there’s a lot of work that we have to do on the UX, the user experience, because while we’ve been developing with controller in mind, there is an expectation from a console player around the experience on a controller,” Jagex’s “RuneScape: Dragonwilds” creative director Rick Turek told Variety during an interview at Summer Game Fest last month. “There isn’t, I don’t believe, a best-in-class survival game on a controller that has really nailed it with the types of features.”
