4 stars for Nostalgia alone. Everyone knows you don't come to Runescape for gameplay, but rather the dopamine boost of watching numbers grow bigger and your account level up.
Having said that, for what is essentially a point and click game it's stood the test of time and been consistently good for a while.
New content is constantly being added into the game, the community is being listened to on a level unprecedented in most games (through the polling system), monetisation (through membership) has been made somewhat more consumer friendly by allowing players to exchange in-game funds for membership.
To be blunt, it's a second monitor game. If you play this exclusively, you are too far gone down the rabbit hole. On a second monitor / phone, it's the perfect low concentration game to play.
Stars being docked for how grindy this game truly is though. Maxing your account in Runescape is not a viable goal for most people who don't have thousands of hours to dedicate. The repetitiveness of tasks is also an issue which leads to burnout and boredom at times.
Lastly, the community has become uber sweaty with tricks like tick manipulation etc, youtubers will spend 100s of hours in the same spot, at the same content because it's "efficient" to level up this way.
Basically, the fun has been optimised out of the game in exchange for an optimal levelling up experience to reduce the grind down. You can still avoid this by just switching it up, but it's noteworthy.
Overall, nostalgic but not going to win any modern gaming awards.
Having said that, for what is essentially a point and click game it's stood the test of time and been consistently good for a while.
New content is constantly being added into the game, the community is being listened to on a level unprecedented in most games (through the polling system), monetisation (through membership) has been made somewhat more consumer friendly by allowing players to exchange in-game funds for membership.
To be blunt, it's a second monitor game. If you play this exclusively, you are too far gone down the rabbit hole. On a second monitor / phone, it's the perfect low concentration game to play.
Stars being docked for how grindy this game truly is though. Maxing your account in Runescape is not a viable goal for most people who don't have thousands of hours to dedicate. The repetitiveness of tasks is also an issue which leads to burnout and boredom at times.
Lastly, the community has become uber sweaty with tricks like tick manipulation etc, youtubers will spend 100s of hours in the same spot, at the same content because it's "efficient" to level up this way.
Basically, the fun has been optimised out of the game in exchange for an optimal levelling up experience to reduce the grind down. You can still avoid this by just switching it up, but it's noteworthy.
Overall, nostalgic but not going to win any modern gaming awards.