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I’ve never touched a RuneScape game in my life. The name sounded familiar, but I had no real context or sense for what long-time fans might expect from Dragonwilds, which is why I hesitated when our editor slid an Early Access key my way and asked if I’d like to take a look.
What convinced me was seeing there's building and resource management, so I decided I needed a break from staff micromanagement and ever-thirsty guests in Planet Zoo, and here we are: first impressions of Dragonwilds, from someone completely new to the RuneScape world.
First impressions of the world
The game installs via Steam and there’s a slightly unexpected Epic account linking requirement for online play, though the process is straightforward. From there, you jump straight into character creation, which is more functional rather than detailed, with several presets to mix and get a decent character. Choose your world type, name it, get a quick lore recap, and you’re ready.
You're dropped into Ashenfall and your first interaction is with the Wise Old Man, who says, ‘’This long-forgotten place is just screaming to be explored.’’ He’s right. Step outside and you’re greeted by a dragon roaring across the sky and a vibrant, inviting world.
Visually, Dragonwilds holds up well with a solid blend of eerie and cosy throughout the world that feels spacious enough, split into six visually distinct areas, each with its own threat level, enemies and resources.
The two starting areas, Temple Woods and Bramblemead Valley, are largely the same green, forest environments, followed by the Whispering Swamp that’s not really massive, but is delightfully creepy and shrouded in thick fog.
The Fractured Plains easily stands out as the most gorgeous area that introduces more diverse enemies like wolves, terrorbirds, and cute, explosive rabbit-like animals. It connects to the last two areas I haven’t explored just yet: the Stormtouched Highlands, where I got excited about a giant dragon skeleton before I was promptly killed on my way to it, and the Bloodblight Swamp, which remains completely unexplored for now.
Weirdly, I preferred playing on the lowest graphics settings, not because my PC struggled, but something about it felt more grounded. That said, a friend with a stronger setup did run into some early stutters.
As for lore and quests, I haven’t followed either too closely. I’ve done a handful of quests in the first two areas, though it has not subtracted from the experience, the world does a good job of pulling you in without it. And I’m just not a quest person in these games… 87 hours in Sons of the Forest and not a single cave explored, no matter how much friends urged me. But I have a massive lakeside fort and a huge Viking cabin on the other side of the map.
Core systems
The UI is clean and, yes, I hate the word, but intuitive too, which makes managing everything quite enjoyable. There’s an optional tutorial, which I attempted only to be immediately distracted by a nearby graveyard and a Kebbit. By the time the Wise Old Man told me to build my first shelter, I’d already torn down my initial base in favour of a two-storey house on a more appealing cliff.
The game features mining, woodcutting, runecrafting, and there’s plenty to cook and build, with pretty much everything you do earning XP up to level 99 and helping unlock new buildings, recipes, and spells. Start by grabbing stones and logs, whack a couple of things together and you'll get the hang of things quickly.
As expected, you’ll need to manage hunger and thirst, but even I, no stranger to tedium, think the eating and drinking frequency in Dragonwilds is a bit too much. The meters drain quickly, and while it’s not hard to restock, it just happens so often that it starts to annoy.
I’m an organised hoarder in games like this, and loot weight is the bane of my existence. My first death wasn’t some epic combat in an area way out of my level - I got jumped by two large rats on my way to my base after taking a shortcut by jumping off a cliff, overloaded with logs, already half-dead from the fall, and unable to run. Naturally, there’s only a certain amount of items you can carry, but it’s a bit too restrictive for my taste in its current state, though it’s also highly likely that I’m the problem, and not the inventory system.
Now to building. I love the building system, and there’s just enough to feel creative without being overwhelming. Structures snap together smoothly, and there’s a handy spell that puts you in a free camera mode so you can build from different angles. I could ignore everything else and just set up a cosy base in the starting area, which is exactly what I did for the first three hours. Kill a few cute animals, build my little kingdom, expand, decorate… I’d be perfectly content never doing anything else.
Combat, spells, and co-op
Currently, there's only melee combat, with ranged and magic combat planned for future updates, or rather, there are ranged and magic weapons you can use, but it doesn’t add to skill progression. You’ll also need to think about stamina management, but a plus from me is that there’s passive health regen, so you don't really need to think about health that much.
Overall, the combat has a slight Souls-like feel to it, which I’m all for; dodging and timing matters, enemy variety is decent, though it all gets a bit repetitive pretty quickly. Still, it’s a solid foundation for the early days.
Spells are where it gets really fun. As you level up your skills, you unlock new magic skills you can slot into your spellbook, 12 in total. There’s a rocksplosion skill that lets you blow up rocks and rune deposits to gather materials. You can chop down trees with a magic axe. You can jump really high and infuse your weapon. It’s all very satisfying.
Every spell has a rune cost and a cooldown, with runes being mined throughout the world, collected from chests, or grabbed from sacks humanoid enemy types carry around, which randomly drop various rune types you'll need.
Up until my tragic first death, I played solo, which was great for getting a feel for things, but Dragonwilds also supports co-op for up to four players. Like most survival games, it’s all the more fun in co-op. Progression carries over between worlds and is tied to your characters, so you’re not starting from scratch if you hop into a friend’s world. Crucially, you can turn on friendly fire. Naturally, I did. It went exactly as you’d expect.
We are yet to kill the dragon that keeps spitting acid on me every time I go cow-hunting.
Final thoughts
Jagex have outlined a promising Early Access roadmap, featuring regular updates with new skills, a whole new region, enemy types, quests, gear, music, and more. Personally, I squealed when I unlocked Tier 2 buildings, so the mention of expanded building mechanics is what I'm most excited about.
But the final verdict… Does it feel like RuneScape? I couldn’t say. Does it bring something new to the genre? With strong community feedback, it definitely has potential. Long-time fans will likely spot references I completely missed, but from my 10 hours with the game, Dragonwilds is a cosy, compelling entry I’m looking forward to spending more time with.
Still, for $30 for early access, I’d say wait several more months if you’re unsure to see how development progresses.
Now back to six more hours of base-building, and maybe killing that acid-spitting dragon.
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