Old School RuneScape

Old School RuneScape is set in the fantasy world of Gielinor. The player controls a human avatar in a persistent world, interacting with NPCs, objects and other players primarily through point and click controls and right-click context menus. The game does not use fixed character classes; progression is instead based on gaining experience points in individual skills and completing quests for rewards.

Skills include combat, gathering, crafting and support activities. Players may choose their own goals, such as training skills, completing quests, fighting monsters, trading items, participating in minigames, or engaging in player-versus-player combat. PC Gamer described the game as a sandbox MMORPG that begins with minimal direction and relies heavily on player-set goals.

In February 2013, in response to the declining player base and negative reception of updates to the then-current version of RuneScape, Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard announced a poll on the creation of a version of the game based on an August 2007 backup found in the company's archives. The poll was created to gauge subscriber interest in running the older version as a parallel game.

The poll received 449,351 votes, which met the threshold Jagex had set to launch the project but fell short of the 500,000-vote reward tier. Jagex nevertheless incorporated several proposed incentives from the higher tier, including player voting on new content, improved bot protection and no additional fee beyond existing membership. Old School RuneScape was released for Windows and OS X on 22 February 2013. At launch, it was only playable by accounts with a membership subscription; limited free-to-play access was added in February 2015.

Review aggregator Metacritic characterised the iOS version's reviews as generally positive. PC Gamer gave Old School RuneScape a score of 77 out of 100 and called it a "massive but compelling time sink".

Coverage of the game's longevity has frequently emphasised its nostalgia and continuing development. PC World called it a "nostalgic experience". Rock Paper Shotgun said "there's something lovely about a company being just as enthusiastic about where their game is headed as where it came from". The Cambridge News wrote that, since its resurrection, the game had continued to embrace and expand on its origins. GamesIndustry.biz wrote that the game's continuing growth suggested its appeal went beyond nostalgia alone.