Old School RuneScape has announced that the popular Bounty Hunter mode will make its return to the game. Old School RuneScape remains extremely popular with the MMO community, despite the continuing development of RuneScape 3.
While Old School RuneScape was initially released in 2013 as an appeal to player nostalgia, the game has evolved in the last decade to become one of the most well-supported MMOs around. Every update to the game is voted on by the community before development, which makes sure that the majority of the community is always happy with the direction the game is heading in. Even though the game is based on a 2007 version of the game, this hasn't stopped some players from looking further into the past. Some RuneScape community members are looking for 2005-era builds of the game in the hope that they can archive the MMO for good.
Bounty Hunter's return was announced by Jagex, with a tweet and blog post detailing the plans for the mini-game. This, like all updates to Old School RuneScape, will involve a period of player consultation to ensure Bounty Hunter meets the needs of as many fans as possible. The plans go into detail about every element of the original Bounty Hunter, and how it will be iterated upon in a new release, including skulling, matchmaking, emblems, Bounty Hunter Points, and of course, monetary reward. It's another huge update for players to get excited about in 2023. After Old School RuneScape players voted to add the game's first-ever new skill, it was assumed that much of Jagex's development resources would be focused on that. It's good to see other big updates make their way to the title.
The return of Bounty Hunter will be great news for fans of Old School RuneScape. The update was first added in the original game in December 2007, replacing the Wilderness. While controversial at first, a number of updates to the mini-game made it the ultimate way to take part in PvP combat. It initially returned to Old School RuneScape in 2014, but was removed in 2020 after concerns over its role in gold farming. The update is another attempt to bring old fans back into the fold. The popular MMO has had a few updates with this intention, notably Old School RuneScape's Group Ironman mode which added a significant level of difficulty to the game.
Despite the game turning ten years old this year, the future is looking bright for Old School RuneScape. The community-first approach has resulted in an engaged fan base that cares about the health of the game. At the moment, Old School RuneScape fans are predicting the new skill ahead of its rumored 2023 release, which could end up being the biggest update to the game to date. Jagex has also become more lenient on fan clients like RuneLite for the game, which allows for plugins that add a huge amount of extra features. Fans of Old School RuneScape can expect the game to be around for some time yet, with no sign of deteriorating popularity.
Old School RuneScape is currently available on Mobile and PC.