After 15 years RuneScape says farewell to Java and hello to new graphics

After 15 years of service RuneScape has said its farewell to Java in favor of a new game client called NXT, making the game both look and run better.

The creators of RuneScape, Jagex, have re-launched the game with a new launcher, NXT, which means the end for trusty Java. The new launcher and all the improvements have been in development for about two years and will according, to Jagex, improve the game greatly.

"This means better RuneScape performance than ever before, and it looks great too – vast viewing distances, dynamic shadows and beautiful lighting effects."

The new launcher has basically no requirements, "Requirements: None." NXT is designed to get the most out of the user's computer so RuneScape will work on almost every system, and if it's not working then there is an error "flag" button to push and a team should fix it.

Launching alongside the new launcher a new quest line has been released, Benedict's World Tour, with eight quests for free players and eight more for paid members. These new quests will, according to the RuneScape team, show off all the new features that comes with the NXT launcher.

The biggest difference between the old RuneScape and the new one is that with the NXT launcher RuneScape will no longer be a browser game, players will have to download it to be able to play.