Jagex has announced that RuneScape Reignited will launch on December 2, introducing a permanent new character type built around a fresh economy, separate hiscores and progression without paid advantages. The feature was revealed during the RuneFest 2026 Summit on October 3 and will arrive alongside RuneScape’s new Adventure Guide and the next stage of its early-game remaster. Reignited is not a separate RuneScape game or replacement for existing accounts, but a new way to begin the current MMO from level 3 alongside other players starting from the same point.
Reignited characters will play in the same broader RuneScape world as existing characters, which Jagex is now referring to as Veterans, while also gaining access to Reignited-only worlds. The two character types will be able to chat together and join the same clans and Homesteads, but their economies will remain separate. Reignited players cannot trade with Veteran characters, use the existing Veteran Grand Exchange or share boss instances with them, while Reignited characters will instead trade among themselves through their own Grand Exchange.
The distinction is intended to create a new RuneScape economy without resetting or altering existing players’ accounts. Jagex says Reignited will be permanent and will have its own hiscores, allowing achievements and resources to develop without 25 years of accumulated wealth and item supply influencing the market from day one. Players will also be able to compete for newly available world-first achievements across combat, skilling, quests and exploration, with successful characters represented by permanent statues in a new Hall of Legends.
Jagex is also positioning Reignited as an integrity-focused mode with no paid progression. Treasure Hunter was removed from RuneScape earlier in 2026, and the studio says Reignited characters will not have access to integrity-breaking microtransaction items or Radiant Stars. Cosmetic overrides will still be sold through the marketplace, but the company says the progression economy itself will remain separated from paid advantages, while gold swapping into or out of Reignited will be prohibited.
The December 2 update will arrive alongside changes intended to make starting RuneScape again more approachable. Jagex is introducing the Gielinor Adventure Guide, described as a structured route through major parts of the game that should give new and returning players clearer direction on what to do next. The studio is also remastering the early RuneScape journey across gameplay and visuals, with further stages of that work planned for 2027, while officially supported plugins including tools such as Quest Helper are being integrated into the game.
Reignited will not convert existing accounts, and Jagex says characters cannot later switch between Veteran and Reignited status because doing so would compromise the separate economies. Players who want to participate will therefore need to create a new Reignited character, similar to choosing another permanent character type such as Ironman. Jagex also confirmed that a Reignited character will ultimately require its own membership rather than sharing membership with an existing character.
There will be a temporary exception at launch. Every Reignited character will receive free access to members’ content from December 2 through December 12, giving players 10 days to experience the full mode before membership is required. Jagex says there are currently no predetermined plans to merge the Reignited and Veteran economies later, though it has left the possibility open depending on how the mode develops.
The launch follows a year of broader restoration work across RuneScape, including changes to combat, the player avatar, Construction, the Grand Exchange and other core systems. Reignited effectively packages those improvements around a fresh-start progression model without wiping the game’s existing community or its accumulated progress. More details about Reignited, the Adventure Guide and RuneScape’s remastered early-game content are expected ahead of the December 2 launch.
