RuneScape: Dragonwilds Reviews
Terrence slays the dragon in his latest review.
In melding the mechanics of popular survival games with classic RPG elements from the MMO that inspired it, RuneScape: Dragonwilds crafts a solid experience that honours the spirit of its namesake. It is vast, mechanically rich, and often unforgiving, to an extent that might ward off more casual players. But just like the intimidating dragons you're pitted against, it's a challenge that can be conquered provided you're willing to slow down, spend the requisite time learning its ins and outs, and slowly build your arsenal.Or you can just spend all your time building a nice, cosy shack in the starting area - your choice. If you've got a few hundred hours to kill, Dragonwilds is a good candidate for your next virtual home-away-from-home. Let's just hope Jagex makes good on those promises of graphical improvements on Switch 2 sooner rather than later.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds is a decent survival game, but it's weighed down by too much busy work. After the first tech level everything requires so many resources that you'll feel more annoyed at having to gather them than excited by the prospect of getting stronger. If you've got a bunch of friends to play with regularly these issues aren't insurmountable and you'll probably have a good time, but if you're playing solo will want want to lower some of the settings, abandoning your trophies, and you'll still have to do all the busywork yourself.
If you’re looking for a survival RPG that captures the magic in the mindless work, RuneScape: Dragonwilds is perfect. But be warned, you’ve got your work cut out for you.
Dragonwilds has been a fun experience. A very beautiful atmospheric game where the way you experience it is really your choice.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds is an ambitious leap forward for Jagex, giving players the brand-new continent of Ashenfall to explore. The ever-looming threat of dragons has reached its tipping point, as an adventurer on the shores of Ashenfall, you take it upon yourself to seek out and challenge the tyrannical Dragon Queen Kuldra.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds successfully transforms the long-running MMORPG into an accessible open-world survival RPG. Rewarding skill progression, useful magic and flexible base building make exploring Ashenfall enjoyable alone or with friends, despite repetitive resource gathering and a few technical imperfections.
There are undoubtedly other examples in the genre, but both its world and gameplay constantly remind you of RuneScape, giving Dragonwilds a distinct identity of its own. With a little more polish, it'll be an absolute treat.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
RuneScape: Dragonwilds certainly has some flaws, like building restrictions, excessive grind, repetitive combat, which can sometimes deter you from playing more. But if you get through the more challenging initial section, you will find a delightful, cozy survival experience with a beautiful story, one that you’ll want to replay at least once.
New adventure in the RuneScape universe that could benefit from an extra patch or two
RuneScape: Dragonwilds was one of the titles in the genre that most captured my attention in recent years. It resolves many of my frustrations with simple and intelligent solutions, reducing repetition and offering quality-of-life improvements as the character evolves.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
RuneScape: Dragonwilds is absolutely not a game for everyone. But it packs more than enough brilliant ideas and sheer volume of content to deeply hook fans of the survival genre, especially those who love meticulously setting their own pace and micromanaging their progression. Ashenfall hides a wealth of secrets to uncover, the magic system provides fantastic utility, and the incredibly long road from a naked nobody to a legendary dragon-slayer is paved with small, immensely satisfying victories.
Review in Unknown | Read full review
This is RuneScape at its finest. A whole lot of work in order to become the best at the game. We should not be surprised by this and that's what makes this game so good.
Now that I’ve sunk my teeth into many hours of Dragonwilds, will I recommend this game to others? YES! RuneScape: Dragonwilds has a great world waiting for you to discover. With enemies to kill, materials to gather, and dragons to slay, and it provides good magic-based survival action-adventure gameplay. It looks fantastic, sounds great, and feels good to control. Late 2026 is a weird time full of truly endless variety of great games to play, across many genres, that could take up 100s of hours of your time. To make matters more complicated, several of those games fall under the same genre as Dragonwilds, making the choice even more difficult. However, RuneScape: Dragonwilds is a game worth carving out a portion of your time to spend in Ashenfall. And it’s only going to get better.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds is a co-op survival RPG. Despite being a new game, it evokes a sense of nostalgia. The controls are well-designed, though they feel better suited to PC than console. You can easily lose yourself in the game for hours, completely losing track of time.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
All in all, I’m really enthusiastic and positive about Dragonwilds. The flaws and annoyances I’ve encountered don’t outweigh the sheer amount of fun I’ve already had with this survival RPG. If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that Jagex is a master when it comes to updates and new content. They’ve already proven this in the past, and hopefully they’ll do the same with Dragonwilds.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
RuneScape Dragonwilds is a genuinely enjoyable survival crafting RPG that has grown significantly from the game I first previewed, and it now feels like a proper new pillar of the RuneScape universe rather than an experiment.
However you choose to play Runescape: Dragonwilds, it’s clear that Jagex is assembling another forever-game.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds is a ton of fun. Survival games usually aren’t my thing, but Dragonwilds manages to feel familiar while also being simple enough for someone like me who isn’t overly familiar with the genre. Being able to create a world for you and your friends is great, while the option to join other players online and carry your character progression between worlds makes everything feel much less restrictive.
Dragonwilds is a slow and steady grind that while can be rewarding, still feels a bit rough around the edges, making me wonder if more time in Early Access could have refine certain parts of the whole experience. Still, if you've been itching for a survival game that isn't built around more realistic visuals, or you are fan of RuneScape, Dragonwilds does offer a compelling and fairly faithful conversion to the survival genre, just make sure you play with friends, and watch out for those blasted hunters.