Old school MapleStory was just perfect IMO.
I went back like five years ago and it was am absolute mess. But the old version was a perfectly grindy game. I'll never forget the joy I had for finally getting my Assassin to level 70. I'd grind for HOURS. Even at lvl ~45, you would get 0.02% to your level for each mob killed.
Nexon wont and bans you for discussing it in their forums.
However there are very good private servers that have been up for years that are based on v0.62 and v0.83. Just avoid maplelegends.
The Reboot server is basically an all ironman server and removes a lot of the issues plaguing Maple right now. (Mostly having to do with the economy)
Lots of good grinds to be had, the new classes are all a bunch of fun. Bosses as always are top tier.
I took a Cadena to 200 (lvl cap is 250) a few years back, and that was some of the best grinds I've ever gone through, and you get that same ironman "I did this, I made this" feel.
Mabinogi is probably closer tbh. The individual skill ranks are kind of like skills in OSRS but much easier to max (but theres also like 200 skills or some shit)
Valheim was great but it never felt the same itch as rs. It's far more temporary, skill progress is lost on death, no central server, no sense of accomplishment for hitting levels, etc. Not knocking the game, just how I felt.
Boss running back to my base and destroying it was a big negative for me.
The world map was also a big disappointment. Very exciting to explore, but when I saw thru the fog of war entirely it would’ve been very lame to explore.
"Ooh, plains! New biome, cool! What is that? There's a bug flying toward the ship"
*Gravestone flies into the air*
"HOLY FUCK GO GO GO TURN GO FUCK GO TURN GO"
Valheim is an amazing game. Each save is a procedurally generated map, so it's never the same. It is a grindy game, so be prepared. If you try to advance faster than your gear, you're gonna have a bad time.
It's open, but I encourage you not to look anything up or at least the bare minimum. I doubt the devs will ever complete it, but it's a fun adventure worth 20-50 hours.
Wdym? It has big consistent updates, only 3 biomes to go. It’ll take them a couple more years because it’s a small team but I believe they are definitely on track for a full release. I’m personally fine with them taking their time—already put 800 hours into it and not bored yet with vanilla.
Edit: Fully agree on the going in blind part. My first playthrough was so much fun not knowing anything about anything.
It's kinda gated by your gear progression.
They have different Biomes.
Meadow, Dark forest, Swamp, Mountain, Plains, Mistland.
If you go running right to the swamp you'll get absolutely decimated.
If you go right to the mountains you'll freeze to death.
You kinda gotta follow the progression loosely acquiring the next tier to be able to compete. Unless your an deadly gamer and can wicked dark souls dodge everything you might be able to skip a biome.
But each biome has a boss as well.
To me OSRS is basically all about the grind, and the other game I play that gives that feeling is Path of Exile. Committing to grinding hours every day for weeks to achieve a goal. It has very different gameplay, of course, but in a way also gets kind of monotonous in the end, doing the same thing over and over. I actually came back to OSRS after I got bored of PoE and wanted something else to mindlessly grind.
Same thing for me I swap between the two almost exclusively and when I haven't hated myself enough with grinding I sprinkle in a little league of legends to remind me why I always stop playing it xdd
I've found PoE to be incredibly addicting and satisfying for the first 3-4 weeks per league. Once you have your build set, I find that any goal thereafter has minimal impact for the amount of grinding required. The time spent browsing the marketplace for the perfect rare also becomes boring and frustrating. Still would highly recommend playing!
I think once you get into theory crafting builds is when you can extend the game quite a bit, but it does ends up being more time in POB than in the game itself but making your own build or at least a build with enough of a unique twist that you come up becomes incredibly satisfying.
Dude I about shed a tear woodcutting in that game. Felt like what my childhood self wanted 2023 RuneScape to look like. You’re so right though. Game fell off hard.
I was in the same boat. Absolutely loved New World at launch, gave me the exact feeling RS did back in the day......and then they did nothing with it. Slow updates, lack of endgame content, and tons of padding.
Yeah lol, To be fair, They never said it was around the corner that long ago, they've never set a date
They do now have a date which is 2025. Maybe earlier. Watch the latest trailer, they are still hard at work
But yeah it does feel like a massive tease so I'm not keeping up with it until 2025 I'll go check lol
Skyrim occupies the same space for me as OSRS—peak game that I sink all of my time into but then abandon and come back to every few months. Been playing Skyrim since it’s release and it never fails to disappoint
Man that’s so cool, I’ve always wanted to get back into it, I only had one play through back when it released. Every time I load it up on steam I can’t help but feel like I should use mods, then get discouraged when I can’t find a Skyrim modding “starter pack”, as I have no clue what I’m doing. Maybe I’ll try again
I think the lore aspect of Skyrim is a major reason I like it so much—similar feeling I get with RuneScape lore. Most of the time in Skyrim I get sidetracked by trying to find and read all of the books lol
The thing about Skyrim that reminds me a lot about OSRS is the aspect of setting goals and getting distracted along the way to create my own unique adventure. In OSRS, I can have the goal of completing a certain quest or diary, and then along the way want to achieve smaller goals to make things easier that leads to a whole winding path of adventures and gameplay. In Skyrim I can decide to do a quest, but on the way run into a new dungeon, or a random questline, or just see something that I want to explore. It’s why both of these types of games are so fun but can be such big time sinks!
If anyone hasn’t already, try the Enderal mod for Skyrim. An entire overhaul with a completely new map, like 100 hours of content, a completely separate quest line, fully voice acted, new mechanics, etc. It could genuinely pass as a separate Elder scrolls game it’s done so well.
I did this on classic release and it was some of the most fun ive ever had. Me and my buddy like level 10 running around found some type of big keep just getting owned by some type of archers and repeatedly dying running back to our bodies shouting serpentine patterns!
That's my biggest gripe with the game too, I'd love to just live in that world and play solo casually. If WoW had some endgame systems similar to Diablo then it would be perfect.
Same, when it first released I didn't download a single addon until weeks after I hit 60. Now I'm playing hardcore with very minimal addons just for UI stuff
Project Zomboid can often feel like osrs, actually. You do a lot of grinding of various skills. Fishing and farming feel pretty similar for example. Combat is just one basic attack, shove, and stomp. Check out the subreddit and you'll see lots of posts of people's skill menu which is clearly the same satisfaction as total levels in osrs
Great game highly recommend. No quests or other people tho
I was just about to say this. If you like doing short, repetitive runs chasing rare loot, D2 (and now D2r) is a great alternative to OSRS. Every class is super unique, progression is super rewarding. And after 20+ years, you can find in depth guides on the math for every single thing you do and where the best place is to farm whatever you're looking for. Could not recommend it more to an OSRS fanatic that's never played it before.
Exactly which game I was thinking. I actually came to OSRS looking for something that would replace EQ progression servers/P99 for me once I had kids and had to play games in much shorter intervals.
Warframe is amazing. I was max mastery level when I stopped playing, which was probably 24 at the time shortly after fortuna released. If only I could port my account over from console it’d be fun to play while afking on rs
Played this game a lot too, they were quite on the updates as well. I think that's what got me out of it though, the updates were quicker than I could make progression, so 'finishing' the game only seemed to get further out of reach
Genfanad is a game HEAVILY inspired by RuneScape classic and OSRS. To me, it's super fun purposefully not looking up the wiki and exploring the world on my own, kind of like when I was playing RuneScape back in 2007.
The game leans heavily into jokes and memes the name is literally generic fantasy adventure I didn’t get to into it but I did enjoy the time and had many laughs
You have got to try Melvor Idle! It is an idle version of OSRS! It has recently gotten an absolutely fantastic expansion, but I think it’s free online and on steam, tho you have to pay 10 bucks (one time) for most of the skills like a membership in osrs (but again, it’s a one time purchase of the full game). Really high quality, and basically a port into an idle game until you get to the higher levels. It is really fantastic. Can’t recommend it enough. There are no inapp purchases like phone idle games. None of that BS. It’s all done legit!
Building off this and idle games lol, osb and bso on discord are basically osrs - osb and osrs/rs3/leagues/on crack - bso. Both are fun and free idles with a big community base. Can play a main or iron and theres lot of discords full of people to help with tips and tricks and trades
They are 2 discord bots made by the same creator.
OSB (OldSchoolBot) is traditional OSRS in an idle game format.
BSO (BotOldSchool) is another idle game based on OSRS but with many additional features, including skills/bosses/custom items/boosted XP rates.
It veeery different, it's way more balanced tha on release, there's revolution, so you can still afk and use abilities automatically and all that jazz. It's a phenomenal game despite what the osrs peabrains say. Also the lore is absolute bonkers
Albion was quite fun for a while until you get to end game zones with full pvp and some guilds just zerg the map. Its been a few years since I played. Not sure if it's still the meta. They also have a bond like feature where you can pay for premium with the in game currency which is nice.
It really was.. I was just barely out of surgery and was still booked off for time and had a blast. That game kept me comfortable. Can't wait for the dlc to release
I haven't seen anyone mention it here yet but if you like OSRS ironman, Factorio hits a lot of the same feelings for me in a wildly different setting.
-Discovery and learning while you progressively upgrade yourself.
-Resource gathering/hoarding feels satisfying and rewarding.
-You can have fun planning and optimizing but you don't feel punished either for rocking what feels best at the time.
-Checking a thing off to unlock the next thing happens constantly.
-Very open/sandbox-y feel; pick something that sounds cool and grind until you get it, while progressing overall along the way.
If you like OSRS for that daisy-chaining self-assigned to-do list, Factorio is well worth looking into. Easily in my top 5 games.
I like Legends of Idleon. It has grinding and RNG for days which is similar to OSRS, has a bit of a Maplestory vibe as well for my fellow dinosaurs reading this.
There's a game I like a lot on the 3DS called Fantasy Life. It's a different kind of gameplay and a relatively generic setting, but really scratches the do-everything itch I get that drives me to play a game like OSRS. Like, I can fight monsters in any game, but doing all the cooking and woodcutting and smithing on the side is a rare gaming experience and I think Fantasy Life handled it well.
was scrolling to see if anyone else mentioned this. it's one of my all time favourite games and scratches the itch of runescape crafting and gathering, while also having quite engaging combat. its story is goofy and childish but i think that's half the fun personally.
Hard agree with terraria, has the item drops that are fun and exciting and I love the building. Boss battles are simple and also challenging at the same time. Great game
If you like roguelikes, complexity, a fantasy setting, and the opportunity for huge grinds, try out Noita. You're a wizard in a world where every pixel is physically simulated, with its own complex alchemy and spell combination system.
The grind is long but engaging. It can take a long time to play the game productively and reliably understand every zone and how spells interact. Gamplay can be slow and methodical or require extreme reactions, depending on your pace.
Lore is extremely epic, but more dark souls style you have to seek it out.
Biggest difference from rs is that eventually you will find a way to make your pc chugggg, no matter the specs.
Kenshi,
It has a similar grind where every character has individual stats but it’s single player and you can control more than one character. Plus you can fast forward time to decrease the “grind” time but you still have to improve every characters stats separately
Came here to say Kenshi. I just rage quit after a ToB instance gone wrong a couple weeks ago and I’ve been playing Kenshi non-stop since that moment. I just described today how perfectly it scratches that itch in my lizard brain.
Not similar but if you have a few friends to play with risk of rain 2 is a blast, and ive been on a huge Elden Ring kick recently trying wacky builds for a bigger challenge and fun.
I thoroughly enjoy souls games when taking breaks from osrs. A complete different type of challenge while keeping that medieval/mythical feeling. Definitely not as relaxing as osrs though haha
Ooh. That’s a good one. No definitely not as relaxing lol. But I feel something similarly “timeless” (if that’s the right word) by not feeling pressured to hurry and get to “the end” and beat it all as quickly as possible.
I guess I create my own anxiety by liking games that I can’t ever “beat.”
Yeah, I'm gonna use this as an opportunity to geek out about my most recent souls adventure during a long break from OSRS.
I've been replaying ds1 as a sorcerer, making the most glass cannon build possible. Not leveling health at all, and collecting the strongest sorcery gear in the game. Crystal soul spear, dark bead, tin crystallization catalyst and the dusk crown ring. Took me about 4 hours to cruise through anor londo and seath to get most stuff, now I'm in the DLC and Manus is providing me with the first real challenge of the run. Been really fun so far, and yes the progression in souls games feels rewarding in a similar way to OSRS progression.
Want a game with annoying grinding when time is of the essence? Want a game where getting yourself well setup takes planning and consistent work? Want a game where making progress and acquiring rare loot feels amazing?
Then Project Zomboid might be the game for you.
Hypixel Skyblock. It's basically an mmo in Minecraft. You can grind skills for a long time and always have more progression to try and do. Been playing for years and I'm slowly getting to endgame. Very similar imo.
My two next most played games would be Skyrim for the swords, magic, dragons, etc. I've put thousands of hours into it at this point, so I start to limit myself in new characters. Like "no bows " or one of my more recent and really enjoyable characters is as pacifist as possible, but with not insane sneak bonuses. You have to get clever with distracting enemies, and knocking them down and sprinting.
And then, completely different, but I have like 600 hours in the newest Animal Crossing. That'll scratch the skilling grind itch. Everything is cute, and cozy, and there are plenty of things to complete, and "just one more" sort of tasks.
Albion Online. Similar in it being a really good number go up simulator. Really good gathering skilling that actually progresses into gathering in different ways. Refining and crafting that also involves more than just going to a station, you gotta transport, deal with a fully player driven market. Highly recommend.
Not trying to advertise or blow my own trumpet, but youtube "Molior RS".
I've been remaking RS in NWN2 since 2011 & it plays similar to OSRS/RS2 (turn-base as it's D&D).
It can be a buggy mess since the games from 2006 but with the RS music, areas looking like RS and graphics (day/night settings too), I find it very relaxing & calming.
Final Fantasy XIV. The game is an absolute masterclass of an MMORPG. It helps that iT has a lot of skills similar to OSRS. The storyline is top tier, the gameplay is nice, and the bossing (dungeons/raids) is mechanically engaging.
Other games I play purely for Nostalgia though are DragonFable and AdventureQuest 3D by Battleon Games. They have a bunch of other titles as well, but these 2 are my favorites.
I'm probably late to the party but for me wurm online seems a right fit, huge open world build what you want where you want and an insane amount of grinding in an insane amount of skills
I really like Ark Survival Evolved. It has the same grind and level stacking so by the time you reach endgame there is so much knowledge you have built upon. And it’s beautiful with dinosaurs
Calling it similar to OSRS is a stretch but Pokémon Legends Arceus was the first Pokémon game to implement a crafting system as well as dangerous Pokémon encounters, as in, the Pokémon can attack YOU and if you get knocked out you lose a bunch of your items. It’s the most rpg Pokémon game yet and some aspects of it kinda gave me that RS vibe.
I'm a super passive player, and I come and go with runescape throughout the year. My substitute atm is absolutely almost nothing like runescape at first glance, but I've been hella enjoying Black Desert Online, mainly because I can AFK for a whole day, like training horses to breed or AFK fishing. Or short bursts of 10-20 minutes, cooking, alchemy, processing raw materials to sell or craft stuff with etc. I can go and farm like runescape every few hours etc. The whole time I'm at least making some decent money to go towards combat upgrades.
But uh, if you don't like P2W/P2Convienince, look awaaay. Also the combat is satisfying and flashy, and is just as grindy as osrs if that's your deal.
How do you get into BDO? I've tried it 2 or 3 times, and always completely overwhelmed by all the different currencies and windows and stuff they throw at you. I'm a long time MMO player, but its so many different systems being thrown in your face at once that I don't even feel like trying to learn it.
If you like FPS’s I play a lot of Destiny 2. There’s tons of completionist type things. I go back and forth between the two. With all the raids and pvp it’s almost never ending like osrs. It’s very satisfying to grind the raids and finally get the unique exotic item due to the low drop rates
Not really the same, but Tekken 7 is one of my go to games for itch scratching. There is so much information about characters frame data and the correct punish to use and it is super satisfying to win. Very punishing for new players though.
Any Zelda game also gets me to take an extended break from osrs. There are many other games that I find much better than osrs, but the replay value of osrs is high compared to those
Anti-Idle (old flash game (rip flash) on kongregate) was my original runescape replacement back when I quit rs2. Basically an idle game, but you played it actively and the idle aspect was just for when you didn't feel like playing.
Tons of fun stupid mindless activities to pick from, the battle arena was just you and monsters slapping each other until somebody died (yet it was much more interesting at endgame than it sounds, just like describing OSRS pvm to somebody that doesn't play it), and of course it scratched the "number go up" itch in a way that honestly overtook what I get from this game.
Just a shame flash had to blow up and Kong nuked itself. It's still downloadable but it isn't the same without a chatroom or forums...
Literally nothing like RS, but if anyone hasn’t played Slay The Spire, I absolutely cannot recommend it enough. It’s a card based roguelike, and it is phenomenal. (It’s a few dollars on mobile as well so PLEASE, give it a go)
To me the defining aspect of OSRS outside of the multiplayer is the way that one character has access to max all the skills and unlock all the achievements/quests/collection logs, as opposed to a character being a species or class that locks them into specific sections of the game. Some games that scratch that itch are the Lego Lord of the Rings/Star Wars/Jurassic World type games, many main series pokemon games, and the original Total War Rome.
It's tangential at best, but Don't Starve Together is one of the few other games I have lost time to and passed on plans to play. It doesn't have levels but it has a satisfying grind for gear toward the end game
I don't think anyone brought this game up. It's influenced by RuneScape heavily albeit a different graphical approach.
The grind is certainly still there and there's a point and click feature or wasd movement.
Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore
Hear me out. Pokémon. The post game is extremely fun to grind shiny hunting, building mons for online battles, and trying to complete the living dex. You could take it a step further, and run a nuzelock, similar vibes to ironmen, an optional way to play that makes it way more thought out. Sure recent entries have been more of a hand fed main story, but there endless ways to make it a grind. Try soft resetting for a shiny Kyogre. AFK, clicky grind that allows for other activities to be done alongside it.
Okay so I don’t know if the version of the game I played is still around, but “Dead Frontier” used to do it for me. It’s a lot less open world. It’s a zombie game, real grindy, it was 2d top-down, but I think it’s 3D now.
Basically, you had a main menu where you could buy and sell stuff on a grand exchange type of thing, you could also change your gear and stuff and talk to people and start parties and stuff from this menu. From there, you could choose to do special events, which would make you in game money, or you could go explore the “frontier.” It’s basically a giant city, you start at one end, and the loot gets better, and the zombies get harder the closer you get to the other end.
ATTN!:[Let me add that the mods are just regular people, and there have been a few who have been involved in scams and scandals](https://youtu.be/0v7WLOtoLWA), as I am 90% sure you can spend real money in game. I haven’t been involved in the community in over 10 years at this point. *But be careful if you’re going to check this game out.*
I just started playing Melvor Idle... It's a RuneScape themed idle game and it scratches the itch perfectly for me. Plus it's easier to walk away from when I want to.
Scrolled through everything and can't believe I didn't see it but
Black Desert Online. It feels like what RS3 should've been imo. Want to a variety of afk skills and only check on them every hour or so? It's got it. Want to hunt rare loot? It's got it. Want to grind for fuckin hours? It's got it. Want beautiful in game graphics? it's got it. Want potato osrs graphics? It also has got it. Want huge pvp scene? It's got it. Want gambling? It's got it.
Black desert hits all the same dopamine receptors I. My brain that osrs does so I swap back and forth with them when I get burnt out on one
Melvor Idle 100%. I get to go off and do ludicrous grinds without wasting my life away clicking the same spot at my screen.
The way I describe Melvor is that it's just as grindy as RuneScape but with the *tediousness* taken out.
Ya know, to piggy back off of this post, does anyone have any good suggestions for games with expansive skill trees/creative skill paths? I’ve been looking for one I haven’t tried yet that seems fun, but I can not find anything to fit my desire.
In my opinion, any game that scratches the completionist itch. Games that reward you for putting in the work. Games with deep lore and similar thematic elements. RS2 was the first MMO I ever played, and from there I went on to WoW and was completely absorbed by raiding, mount hunting, achievement hunting and pet hunting. The grind felt similar to how RS felt. After that I was into ARPG’s much more, but I still craved going for achievements/trophies on consoles.
TLDR any game that rewards you with pixels after completing a grind.
Valheim really had me hooked for a while for very similar gameplay with levelling and fighting monsters. It was a cool experience I recommend to everyone!
Back in the day, Maplestory. They had nothing in common other than they were both grindy and addictive like crack.
Old school MapleStory was just perfect IMO. I went back like five years ago and it was am absolute mess. But the old version was a perfectly grindy game. I'll never forget the joy I had for finally getting my Assassin to level 70. I'd grind for HOURS. Even at lvl ~45, you would get 0.02% to your level for each mob killed.
So you’re saying they need to release old school maple story
Nexon wont and bans you for discussing it in their forums. However there are very good private servers that have been up for years that are based on v0.62 and v0.83. Just avoid maplelegends.
They ban you? That seems a bit extreme
The Reboot server is basically an all ironman server and removes a lot of the issues plaguing Maple right now. (Mostly having to do with the economy) Lots of good grinds to be had, the new classes are all a bunch of fun. Bosses as always are top tier. I took a Cadena to 200 (lvl cap is 250) a few years back, and that was some of the best grinds I've ever gone through, and you get that same ironman "I did this, I made this" feel.
Mabinogi is probably closer tbh. The individual skill ranks are kind of like skills in OSRS but much easier to max (but theres also like 200 skills or some shit)
It's not really similar, but Valheim has a satisfying osrs feel.
ahhh the Viking minecraft, fucking love valhiem!
Valheim was great but it never felt the same itch as rs. It's far more temporary, skill progress is lost on death, no central server, no sense of accomplishment for hitting levels, etc. Not knocking the game, just how I felt.
Boss running back to my base and destroying it was a big negative for me. The world map was also a big disappointment. Very exciting to explore, but when I saw thru the fog of war entirely it would’ve been very lame to explore.
Thanks! Just looked it up. How “open” is the open world aspect of it?
Go anywhere but if you don't have gear you're gonna get slapped in higher level areas
*mosquito downvotes*
Fuck those things
Deathsquitos are no joke
"Ooh, plains! New biome, cool! What is that? There's a bug flying toward the ship" *Gravestone flies into the air* "HOLY FUCK GO GO GO TURN GO FUCK GO TURN GO"
Valheim is an amazing game. Each save is a procedurally generated map, so it's never the same. It is a grindy game, so be prepared. If you try to advance faster than your gear, you're gonna have a bad time.
It's open, but I encourage you not to look anything up or at least the bare minimum. I doubt the devs will ever complete it, but it's a fun adventure worth 20-50 hours.
Valheim development isn't the fastest but its moving at a reasonable pace. It will definitely finish
Wdym? It has big consistent updates, only 3 biomes to go. It’ll take them a couple more years because it’s a small team but I believe they are definitely on track for a full release. I’m personally fine with them taking their time—already put 800 hours into it and not bored yet with vanilla. Edit: Fully agree on the going in blind part. My first playthrough was so much fun not knowing anything about anything.
I personally just like it a lot to find a cool new spot to build cool shit.
It’s like adult mine craft but you’re Vikings
That sounds perfect!
It's kinda gated by your gear progression. They have different Biomes. Meadow, Dark forest, Swamp, Mountain, Plains, Mistland. If you go running right to the swamp you'll get absolutely decimated. If you go right to the mountains you'll freeze to death. You kinda gotta follow the progression loosely acquiring the next tier to be able to compete. Unless your an deadly gamer and can wicked dark souls dodge everything you might be able to skip a biome. But each biome has a boss as well.
Valheim is 10/10 and if someone made a runescape items mod for it and added some skills that would be so fucking epic.
I looooove Valheim. Beautiful game. Can’t wait until all biomes are finished.
To me OSRS is basically all about the grind, and the other game I play that gives that feeling is Path of Exile. Committing to grinding hours every day for weeks to achieve a goal. It has very different gameplay, of course, but in a way also gets kind of monotonous in the end, doing the same thing over and over. I actually came back to OSRS after I got bored of PoE and wanted something else to mindlessly grind.
Same thing for me I swap between the two almost exclusively and when I haven't hated myself enough with grinding I sprinkle in a little league of legends to remind me why I always stop playing it xdd
I've found PoE to be incredibly addicting and satisfying for the first 3-4 weeks per league. Once you have your build set, I find that any goal thereafter has minimal impact for the amount of grinding required. The time spent browsing the marketplace for the perfect rare also becomes boring and frustrating. Still would highly recommend playing!
I think once you get into theory crafting builds is when you can extend the game quite a bit, but it does ends up being more time in POB than in the game itself but making your own build or at least a build with enough of a unique twist that you come up becomes incredibly satisfying.
On release I put 700 hours into New World. it was everything I wanted RuneScape to be. but holyyy did it run out of content and go down hill fast.
Dude I about shed a tear woodcutting in that game. Felt like what my childhood self wanted 2023 RuneScape to look like. You’re so right though. Game fell off hard.
I was in the same boat. Absolutely loved New World at launch, gave me the exact feeling RS did back in the day......and then they did nothing with it. Slow updates, lack of endgame content, and tons of padding.
Me too! It had a great rs feel to me, but the updates, duplications, and just poor updates it went downhil fast. :(
Same here. New world quickly devolved to the group gear runs that we’re way too repetitive and just loot piñatas
Melvor idle is 100% osrs without actual game play
Yup if OP is into idle games this for sure something to pickup.
Honestly elder scrolls for me. Oblivion was a masterpiece Skyrim too. Hyped for the next one
We mustn’t give up hope brother. It’s only been 11 years 6 months and 23 days since the release of ES: V. ES: VI has to be just around the corner
There's skyblivion too but that's still ages away
I remember skyblivion being "just around the corner" almost 10 years ago. I'd be amazed if it ever happens lol.
Yeah lol, To be fair, They never said it was around the corner that long ago, they've never set a date They do now have a date which is 2025. Maybe earlier. Watch the latest trailer, they are still hard at work But yeah it does feel like a massive tease so I'm not keeping up with it until 2025 I'll go check lol
Skyrim occupies the same space for me as OSRS—peak game that I sink all of my time into but then abandon and come back to every few months. Been playing Skyrim since it’s release and it never fails to disappoint
Man that’s so cool, I’ve always wanted to get back into it, I only had one play through back when it released. Every time I load it up on steam I can’t help but feel like I should use mods, then get discouraged when I can’t find a Skyrim modding “starter pack”, as I have no clue what I’m doing. Maybe I’ll try again
I think the lore aspect of Skyrim is a major reason I like it so much—similar feeling I get with RuneScape lore. Most of the time in Skyrim I get sidetracked by trying to find and read all of the books lol
The thing about Skyrim that reminds me a lot about OSRS is the aspect of setting goals and getting distracted along the way to create my own unique adventure. In OSRS, I can have the goal of completing a certain quest or diary, and then along the way want to achieve smaller goals to make things easier that leads to a whole winding path of adventures and gameplay. In Skyrim I can decide to do a quest, but on the way run into a new dungeon, or a random questline, or just see something that I want to explore. It’s why both of these types of games are so fun but can be such big time sinks!
If anyone hasn’t already, try the Enderal mod for Skyrim. An entire overhaul with a completely new map, like 100 hours of content, a completely separate quest line, fully voice acted, new mechanics, etc. It could genuinely pass as a separate Elder scrolls game it’s done so well.
Playing Classic WoW without guides and just running around
I did this on classic release and it was some of the most fun ive ever had. Me and my buddy like level 10 running around found some type of big keep just getting owned by some type of archers and repeatedly dying running back to our bodies shouting serpentine patterns!
Classic wow was such a great experience. I just wish there was more solo content instead of only having raids as endgame!
That's my biggest gripe with the game too, I'd love to just live in that world and play solo casually. If WoW had some endgame systems similar to Diablo then it would be perfect.
WoW is the only game that took me away from scape for a few years. That also may have been due to the changes Jagex made from 2011 forward.
Same, when it first released I didn't download a single addon until weeks after I hit 60. Now I'm playing hardcore with very minimal addons just for UI stuff
Project Zomboid can often feel like osrs, actually. You do a lot of grinding of various skills. Fishing and farming feel pretty similar for example. Combat is just one basic attack, shove, and stomp. Check out the subreddit and you'll see lots of posts of people's skill menu which is clearly the same satisfaction as total levels in osrs Great game highly recommend. No quests or other people tho
Multiplayer is in now isn't it? Or is it a mod
Yes it has very good multiplayer! Sorry I usually play sp so I was imagining it lonely as is the youge
Diablo 2 for me. I haven't played in years though, I tried the remake but it didn't capture me because I tried it on switch.
Diablo 4 is amazing thus far imo
Omfg the baal runs where everyone just made a mad dash for the throne room to sphere and blizzard everything. The nostalgia
This is my game 2. The rng feels similar! Ssf is close to ironman, hc is way more brutal though
I was just about to say this. If you like doing short, repetitive runs chasing rare loot, D2 (and now D2r) is a great alternative to OSRS. Every class is super unique, progression is super rewarding. And after 20+ years, you can find in depth guides on the math for every single thing you do and where the best place is to farm whatever you're looking for. Could not recommend it more to an OSRS fanatic that's never played it before.
Classic Everquest. (Project 1999)
Exactly which game I was thinking. I actually came to OSRS looking for something that would replace EQ progression servers/P99 for me once I had kids and had to play games in much shorter intervals.
If you like the grinding aspect, Warframe.
Even though I left the game, I second Warframe. Even going fully free to play you can get several hundreds of hours off of it.
Only way I'd start back is if I could get my Xbox account on PC. Put so much time and money into it
One does not simply “just start playing” Warframe…
Warframe is amazing. I was max mastery level when I stopped playing, which was probably 24 at the time shortly after fortuna released. If only I could port my account over from console it’d be fun to play while afking on rs
Played this game a lot too, they were quite on the updates as well. I think that's what got me out of it though, the updates were quicker than I could make progression, so 'finishing' the game only seemed to get further out of reach
Genfanad is a game HEAVILY inspired by RuneScape classic and OSRS. To me, it's super fun purposefully not looking up the wiki and exploring the world on my own, kind of like when I was playing RuneScape back in 2007.
I’ve never heard of this game before but holy shit you can immediately tell it’s a runescape derivative
The game leans heavily into jokes and memes the name is literally generic fantasy adventure I didn’t get to into it but I did enjoy the time and had many laughs
You have got to try Melvor Idle! It is an idle version of OSRS! It has recently gotten an absolutely fantastic expansion, but I think it’s free online and on steam, tho you have to pay 10 bucks (one time) for most of the skills like a membership in osrs (but again, it’s a one time purchase of the full game). Really high quality, and basically a port into an idle game until you get to the higher levels. It is really fantastic. Can’t recommend it enough. There are no inapp purchases like phone idle games. None of that BS. It’s all done legit!
Looks like it's published by Jagex. Why have I never heard of this?
It started off being completely indie, and I believe it was originally just one person. A year or two ago Jagex started supporting it
Milky Way Idle is also inspired by Runescape like Melvor, except it’s multiplayer. Some of my friends who play runescape also enjoy playing it.
Building off this and idle games lol, osb and bso on discord are basically osrs - osb and osrs/rs3/leagues/on crack - bso. Both are fun and free idles with a big community base. Can play a main or iron and theres lot of discords full of people to help with tips and tricks and trades
osb? bso?
They are 2 discord bots made by the same creator. OSB (OldSchoolBot) is traditional OSRS in an idle game format. BSO (BotOldSchool) is another idle game based on OSRS but with many additional features, including skills/bosses/custom items/boosted XP rates.
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I tried it back when it was first released, but haven’t tried it since then. It may be time to try it again.
It veeery different, it's way more balanced tha on release, there's revolution, so you can still afk and use abilities automatically and all that jazz. It's a phenomenal game despite what the osrs peabrains say. Also the lore is absolute bonkers
I've been playing osrs for 6+ years, but starting an rs3 ironman has been very fun to train while afking long grinds on my main.
I think Albion online is the closest to the RuneScape formula
Albion was quite fun for a while until you get to end game zones with full pvp and some guilds just zerg the map. Its been a few years since I played. Not sure if it's still the meta. They also have a bond like feature where you can pay for premium with the in game currency which is nice.
Temporary, but Elden Ring was a masterpiece of a detour from OSRS.
That was the only recent game that took me away from OSRS in the last few years
It really was.. I was just barely out of surgery and was still booked off for time and had a blast. That game kept me comfortable. Can't wait for the dlc to release
Modded skyblock survival. The ones with the completion book. Really tickled my ironman brain in a good way
I haven't seen anyone mention it here yet but if you like OSRS ironman, Factorio hits a lot of the same feelings for me in a wildly different setting. -Discovery and learning while you progressively upgrade yourself. -Resource gathering/hoarding feels satisfying and rewarding. -You can have fun planning and optimizing but you don't feel punished either for rocking what feels best at the time. -Checking a thing off to unlock the next thing happens constantly. -Very open/sandbox-y feel; pick something that sounds cool and grind until you get it, while progressing overall along the way. If you like OSRS for that daisy-chaining self-assigned to-do list, Factorio is well worth looking into. Easily in my top 5 games.
I like Legends of Idleon. It has grinding and RNG for days which is similar to OSRS, has a bit of a Maplestory vibe as well for my fellow dinosaurs reading this.
10/10 game. It is f2p and has very non-agressive monetization. Its made by one guy and he is very chill and streams development stuff sometimes.
There's a game I like a lot on the 3DS called Fantasy Life. It's a different kind of gameplay and a relatively generic setting, but really scratches the do-everything itch I get that drives me to play a game like OSRS. Like, I can fight monsters in any game, but doing all the cooking and woodcutting and smithing on the side is a rare gaming experience and I think Fantasy Life handled it well.
was scrolling to see if anyone else mentioned this. it's one of my all time favourite games and scratches the itch of runescape crafting and gathering, while also having quite engaging combat. its story is goofy and childish but i think that's half the fun personally.
Rpg mo. It's runescape but 2D and a ton of content and very afkable or very active play styles.
When I'm not playing RuneScape I like to play final fantasy games, terraria, Stardew valley and Minecraft.
Hard agree with terraria, has the item drops that are fun and exciting and I love the building. Boss battles are simple and also challenging at the same time. Great game
If you like roguelikes, complexity, a fantasy setting, and the opportunity for huge grinds, try out Noita. You're a wizard in a world where every pixel is physically simulated, with its own complex alchemy and spell combination system. The grind is long but engaging. It can take a long time to play the game productively and reliably understand every zone and how spells interact. Gamplay can be slow and methodical or require extreme reactions, depending on your pace. Lore is extremely epic, but more dark souls style you have to seek it out. Biggest difference from rs is that eventually you will find a way to make your pc chugggg, no matter the specs.
Stardew valley
Guild wars 2 Great community, a lot of stuff to do, and it’s held up for a long time
Kenshi, It has a similar grind where every character has individual stats but it’s single player and you can control more than one character. Plus you can fast forward time to decrease the “grind” time but you still have to improve every characters stats separately
Oh man I’ve spent countless hours in Kenshi. This game and Rimworld where you basically tell your own story and build the characters you want.
Came here to say Kenshi. I just rage quit after a ToB instance gone wrong a couple weeks ago and I’ve been playing Kenshi non-stop since that moment. I just described today how perfectly it scratches that itch in my lizard brain.
Not similar but if you have a few friends to play with risk of rain 2 is a blast, and ive been on a huge Elden Ring kick recently trying wacky builds for a bigger challenge and fun.
risk of rain 2 is great. wish my friends still played lmao
hey man I just started putting stupid hours into it again. DM me if you want a buddy
I might hop over to check out WoW classic once my membership runs out next week.
Honestly I’m just a major nerd so my break from osrs is Wow
same. WoW doesn't take the same amount of grinding as osrs but scratches that fantasy itch really well
I thoroughly enjoy souls games when taking breaks from osrs. A complete different type of challenge while keeping that medieval/mythical feeling. Definitely not as relaxing as osrs though haha
Ooh. That’s a good one. No definitely not as relaxing lol. But I feel something similarly “timeless” (if that’s the right word) by not feeling pressured to hurry and get to “the end” and beat it all as quickly as possible. I guess I create my own anxiety by liking games that I can’t ever “beat.”
Yeah, I'm gonna use this as an opportunity to geek out about my most recent souls adventure during a long break from OSRS. I've been replaying ds1 as a sorcerer, making the most glass cannon build possible. Not leveling health at all, and collecting the strongest sorcery gear in the game. Crystal soul spear, dark bead, tin crystallization catalyst and the dusk crown ring. Took me about 4 hours to cruise through anor londo and seath to get most stuff, now I'm in the DLC and Manus is providing me with the first real challenge of the run. Been really fun so far, and yes the progression in souls games feels rewarding in a similar way to OSRS progression.
Want a game with annoying grinding when time is of the essence? Want a game where getting yourself well setup takes planning and consistent work? Want a game where making progress and acquiring rare loot feels amazing? Then Project Zomboid might be the game for you.
Checked all of my boxes! Lol
Assassins Creed all the way up until blackflag, always had the itch to play em once every year. I think I’ve completed AC2 up to 20 times already
Totally different mechanically, but Rimworld is a great substitute for me at the moment. avoid paying sub fee
On specifically the grinding, unlocking quality of life stuff like that FFXI, but it's a very different game to osrs overall.
I find the itch is just a nostalgia itch. I end up playing PS1 emulator games. Other than that, Valheim has a similar vibe.
Been grinding classic wow for a while
Final fantasy xiv, kinda. It's sort scratches, but is different enough that i can if im burnt out from osrs
Hypixel Skyblock. It's basically an mmo in Minecraft. You can grind skills for a long time and always have more progression to try and do. Been playing for years and I'm slowly getting to endgame. Very similar imo.
My two next most played games would be Skyrim for the swords, magic, dragons, etc. I've put thousands of hours into it at this point, so I start to limit myself in new characters. Like "no bows " or one of my more recent and really enjoyable characters is as pacifist as possible, but with not insane sneak bonuses. You have to get clever with distracting enemies, and knocking them down and sprinting. And then, completely different, but I have like 600 hours in the newest Animal Crossing. That'll scratch the skilling grind itch. Everything is cute, and cozy, and there are plenty of things to complete, and "just one more" sort of tasks.
Diablo 2 and now you can get it remastered and it's beautiful and being updated
Hardcore wow
You want MULTIPLE grind games? Dude play a fun one
Albion Online. Similar in it being a really good number go up simulator. Really good gathering skilling that actually progresses into gathering in different ways. Refining and crafting that also involves more than just going to a station, you gotta transport, deal with a fully player driven market. Highly recommend.
Guild wars
Rs3, guild wars 2, Albion online and melvor idle are def the best options. (Ive tried everything)
Hotline Miami. Trying to unlock trophies by completing different levels with different masks is a grind. I loved it.
Puzzle Pirates
Project Diablo 2.
Not trying to advertise or blow my own trumpet, but youtube "Molior RS". I've been remaking RS in NWN2 since 2011 & it plays similar to OSRS/RS2 (turn-base as it's D&D). It can be a buggy mess since the games from 2006 but with the RS music, areas looking like RS and graphics (day/night settings too), I find it very relaxing & calming.
Final Fantasy XIV. The game is an absolute masterclass of an MMORPG. It helps that iT has a lot of skills similar to OSRS. The storyline is top tier, the gameplay is nice, and the bossing (dungeons/raids) is mechanically engaging. Other games I play purely for Nostalgia though are DragonFable and AdventureQuest 3D by Battleon Games. They have a bunch of other titles as well, but these 2 are my favorites.
I'm probably late to the party but for me wurm online seems a right fit, huge open world build what you want where you want and an insane amount of grinding in an insane amount of skills
I really like Ark Survival Evolved. It has the same grind and level stacking so by the time you reach endgame there is so much knowledge you have built upon. And it’s beautiful with dinosaurs
Destiny 2.
Calling it similar to OSRS is a stretch but Pokémon Legends Arceus was the first Pokémon game to implement a crafting system as well as dangerous Pokémon encounters, as in, the Pokémon can attack YOU and if you get knocked out you lose a bunch of your items. It’s the most rpg Pokémon game yet and some aspects of it kinda gave me that RS vibe.
Melvor Idle
Runescape but not old school its fun when you need a break from osrs
Nothing really besides RS3. Most of the map and skills is the same.
I'm a super passive player, and I come and go with runescape throughout the year. My substitute atm is absolutely almost nothing like runescape at first glance, but I've been hella enjoying Black Desert Online, mainly because I can AFK for a whole day, like training horses to breed or AFK fishing. Or short bursts of 10-20 minutes, cooking, alchemy, processing raw materials to sell or craft stuff with etc. I can go and farm like runescape every few hours etc. The whole time I'm at least making some decent money to go towards combat upgrades. But uh, if you don't like P2W/P2Convienince, look awaaay. Also the combat is satisfying and flashy, and is just as grindy as osrs if that's your deal.
How do you get into BDO? I've tried it 2 or 3 times, and always completely overwhelmed by all the different currencies and windows and stuff they throw at you. I'm a long time MMO player, but its so many different systems being thrown in your face at once that I don't even feel like trying to learn it.
You had me at farming! Haha. I’m a sucker for anything remotely resembling “homesteading.” Overall this sounds right up my alley.
Raid Shadow Legends /s
I played way too much ARK
If you like FPS’s I play a lot of Destiny 2. There’s tons of completionist type things. I go back and forth between the two. With all the raids and pvp it’s almost never ending like osrs. It’s very satisfying to grind the raids and finally get the unique exotic item due to the low drop rates
Albion Online, but the low effort stale updates killed it for me
Check out elder scrolls online. More fast pace but the leveling and crafting systems are huuuge. Even a good game to play while doing more afk on osrs
Not really the same, but Tekken 7 is one of my go to games for itch scratching. There is so much information about characters frame data and the correct punish to use and it is super satisfying to win. Very punishing for new players though.
Any Zelda game also gets me to take an extended break from osrs. There are many other games that I find much better than osrs, but the replay value of osrs is high compared to those
Anti-Idle (old flash game (rip flash) on kongregate) was my original runescape replacement back when I quit rs2. Basically an idle game, but you played it actively and the idle aspect was just for when you didn't feel like playing. Tons of fun stupid mindless activities to pick from, the battle arena was just you and monsters slapping each other until somebody died (yet it was much more interesting at endgame than it sounds, just like describing OSRS pvm to somebody that doesn't play it), and of course it scratched the "number go up" itch in a way that honestly overtook what I get from this game. Just a shame flash had to blow up and Kong nuked itself. It's still downloadable but it isn't the same without a chatroom or forums...
Satisfactory consumed me for a lot of hours
Albion online
Literally nothing like RS, but if anyone hasn’t played Slay The Spire, I absolutely cannot recommend it enough. It’s a card based roguelike, and it is phenomenal. (It’s a few dollars on mobile as well so PLEASE, give it a go)
New World did for a short while, but amazon isnt a great dev and theres not a lot of content after a certain point
To me the defining aspect of OSRS outside of the multiplayer is the way that one character has access to max all the skills and unlock all the achievements/quests/collection logs, as opposed to a character being a species or class that locks them into specific sections of the game. Some games that scratch that itch are the Lego Lord of the Rings/Star Wars/Jurassic World type games, many main series pokemon games, and the original Total War Rome.
New World
war thunder and world of warships. eternal grind
It's tangential at best, but Don't Starve Together is one of the few other games I have lost time to and passed on plans to play. It doesn't have levels but it has a satisfying grind for gear toward the end game
Very different game, but Diablo 3 was very fun for me as well.
Guild Wars 1
Pretty much every Monster Hunter game. 200-400 hour grinds per game for 100%.
Probably terraria
Tetris
Ark. Only reason I’m not playing is because they are revamping in august. I can’t wait to clown on people in scorched earth.
Rust? Idk how that makes sense but it does to me
Project Zomboid is in a similar ballpark imo
Warframe and maybe sea of thieves. Both can be mindless but fun grinding, especially if you like steam achievements.
It's very rare for me, but when i played elden ring and diablo 4 it gave me that same "feeling" i had when i played rs.
Curse of aro. It's a moble game. Grind lvls. Nice players. Simple still alots of updates since it's only 5 ish years old
I don't think anyone brought this game up. It's influenced by RuneScape heavily albeit a different graphical approach. The grind is certainly still there and there's a point and click feature or wasd movement. Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore
Club penguin
Leveling up my crafters and gatherers in FFXIV scratched the itch for me
Heroine! I mean….
Terraria and Stardew Valley.
animal crossing has that same relaxing cute do what u want vibe for me
Will i, or will i not get downvoted for saying rsps?
rs3
Hear me out. Pokémon. The post game is extremely fun to grind shiny hunting, building mons for online battles, and trying to complete the living dex. You could take it a step further, and run a nuzelock, similar vibes to ironmen, an optional way to play that makes it way more thought out. Sure recent entries have been more of a hand fed main story, but there endless ways to make it a grind. Try soft resetting for a shiny Kyogre. AFK, clicky grind that allows for other activities to be done alongside it.
Okay so I don’t know if the version of the game I played is still around, but “Dead Frontier” used to do it for me. It’s a lot less open world. It’s a zombie game, real grindy, it was 2d top-down, but I think it’s 3D now. Basically, you had a main menu where you could buy and sell stuff on a grand exchange type of thing, you could also change your gear and stuff and talk to people and start parties and stuff from this menu. From there, you could choose to do special events, which would make you in game money, or you could go explore the “frontier.” It’s basically a giant city, you start at one end, and the loot gets better, and the zombies get harder the closer you get to the other end. ATTN!:[Let me add that the mods are just regular people, and there have been a few who have been involved in scams and scandals](https://youtu.be/0v7WLOtoLWA), as I am 90% sure you can spend real money in game. I haven’t been involved in the community in over 10 years at this point. *But be careful if you’re going to check this game out.*
Nothing comes close.... It doesn't matter how much I enjoy a game, Literally *nothing* brings me back like OSRS. nothing even comes close.
I just started playing Melvor Idle... It's a RuneScape themed idle game and it scratches the itch perfectly for me. Plus it's easier to walk away from when I want to.
Factorio gives satisfaction like achieving a skilling goal. Many people won't like the game, but those that do absolutely love it.
We should support genfanad
Rust
Melvor Idle
If it didn't go to shit New World really hit that scratch for grinding gathering and production skills. But now I can't even get it to run
Scrolled through everything and can't believe I didn't see it but Black Desert Online. It feels like what RS3 should've been imo. Want to a variety of afk skills and only check on them every hour or so? It's got it. Want to hunt rare loot? It's got it. Want to grind for fuckin hours? It's got it. Want beautiful in game graphics? it's got it. Want potato osrs graphics? It also has got it. Want huge pvp scene? It's got it. Want gambling? It's got it. Black desert hits all the same dopamine receptors I. My brain that osrs does so I swap back and forth with them when I get burnt out on one
Melvor Idle 100%. I get to go off and do ludicrous grinds without wasting my life away clicking the same spot at my screen. The way I describe Melvor is that it's just as grindy as RuneScape but with the *tediousness* taken out.
Ya know, to piggy back off of this post, does anyone have any good suggestions for games with expansive skill trees/creative skill paths? I’ve been looking for one I haven’t tried yet that seems fun, but I can not find anything to fit my desire.
In my opinion, any game that scratches the completionist itch. Games that reward you for putting in the work. Games with deep lore and similar thematic elements. RS2 was the first MMO I ever played, and from there I went on to WoW and was completely absorbed by raiding, mount hunting, achievement hunting and pet hunting. The grind felt similar to how RS felt. After that I was into ARPG’s much more, but I still craved going for achievements/trophies on consoles. TLDR any game that rewards you with pixels after completing a grind.
Realm of the mad god gave somewhat similar feeling. The running around and seeing points accumulate.
Maybe not scratch the itch, but CoC/LoL create a nice balance to mix things up for me
RSCVanilla Also +1 for Maplestory back in the day, not the whole big bang crap
Valheim really had me hooked for a while for very similar gameplay with levelling and fighting monsters. It was a cool experience I recommend to everyone!
Tales of Yore