Legendary RuneScape creator shows off new MMO after decade of development

Soon after the turn of the new century,  after we had all calmed down about the Millennium Bug bringing planes crashing out of the skies, and nuclear armageddon a little game called RuneScape came out. It’s still going, indeed we talked yesterday about how RuneScape publisher Jagex has been busy strengthening its management team.

The designer Andrew Gower and his brother Paul created one of gaming’s longest-lasting legacies. RuneScape and old-school RuneScape are still played by many to this day. So the news that Andrew has a new MMO coming out this year, and one that he has been working on for ten years should excite a lot of players.

Developed by his studio Fen Research, “Andrew Gower’s Brighter Shores” can be wishlisted on Steam as we speak, and is currently slated for a release at some point during Q3 this year. And to complete the circle of life, brother Paul is the game’s Narrative Designer.

It’s an exciting day today. I’m the narrative designer on Brighter Shores, an upcoming MMO that has just been announced today! Follow the link to our Steam page below, and add it to your wish list if it looks like something you might enjoy!https://t.co/h8g2d65Tmz

— Paul Gower (@PaulJGower) March 13, 2024

Gower told PC Gamer via a statement, “Creating this game has been a real labor of love, At times it has felt like an insurmountably ambitious task, so it’s amazing to finally see it coming together in the way I hoped. I can’t wait to see the world full of players enjoying what we have created.”

Brighter Shores will release as free-to-play but will have a Premium Pass with more quests and professions, as well as a player-to-player trading system.

It has been designed with Gower’s own Fenforge engine, and as you can see from the image above, this has given it a unique look, reminiscent of RuneScape but what interests us most is Fen Research says it will seek to minimize the “grindy” gameplay that plagues the genre.

If they can all pull this off, we could be about to get another MMO that will stick around for the best part of a quarter of a century and more.

The post Legendary RuneScape creator shows off new MMO after decade of development appeared first on ReadWrite.