‘Old School Runescape’ is receiving a speedrun game mode

To be specific, the speedrunning pertains to the game’s Quests, which “takes place on members-only worlds with separate save files”.

A blog post on the Old School Runescape website explains that “upon logging on to a Speedrunning world, you’ll be prompted to select the quest you’d like to run.” Once a quest has been selected, “the game will automatically adjust your stats to the recommended levels for the quest you’ve chosen, as well as providing all the relevant items.”

Although players don’t have to be constantly engaged in a speedrun when in one of these worlds, XP can’t be earned in them, so skills can’t be leveled up. However, participating in speedruns will provide players with “reward points which will transfer across to your main account in the normal game mode.” These reward points will scale depending on how efficiently a player finishes a quest, with a maximum of 320 points being available from a single quest.

The speedrunning worlds are clearly aimed at players who are already experienced with Old School Runescape and looking for a change, as they provide no tutorial or trading, with aspects such as PvP and minigames including Castle Wars and Soul Wars being disabled.

As with any good speedrunning mode, statistics such as the current time during a speedrun, personal best time, and global best time will all be viewable, as well as the times needed for each of the rewards.

The update will launch with five early game quests – Cook’s Assistant, Ernest the Chicken, Demon Slayer, Vampyre Slayer, and Dragon Slayer 1. Additional quests will be added each month, with the first five months currently being roadmapped.

Old School Runescape speedrunning will begin with a beta available on September 14 and will last for two weeks with the team taking on feedback ahead of its full launch.

In other news, Konami will announce a new game in a “loved” series at this year’s Tokyo Game Show.