Thoughts on Brighter Shores

While thinking about generic medieval fantasy signatures, I wondered what a remake of RuneScape would be like. This train of thoughts reminded me that Brighter Shores existed. This game was developed by Andrew Gower, one of the main creator of RuneScape. As such, I decided to check it out to see if it had the same "generic RPG" feel that RuneScape has.

It should be noted that I only evaluated the game through YouTube videos as I cannot play the game due to technical reasons unrelated to the game. It is possible that some of the critiques listed here are based on outdated information.

My first impression of the game is that it indeed tries to depict generic medieval fantasy signatures like I suspect. The game overall seems like a reimagining of RuneScape, so I presume that this was a conscious effort to replicate the vibes of that game.

Although I generally like the signatures put on display here, the artstyle turns me off. It is clear that the development team was trying to do something similar to RuneScape 3, but something about it is extremely off-putting. I am not sure why. The animations in the game seems to purposely try to replicate the jankiness of OSRS but the end result is the game feeling amateurish.

The UI feels very graphically barebone and soulless compared to RuneScape. I think that the biggest thing that is missing are chathead animations. Those give so much life to the dialogues and they are completely absent here. What a shame. Some of the names in that game, like "Hopeport" and "Hopeforest" feel off too.

Something that left everyone scratching their head is the room design. RuneScape kind of works in a similar as the entire world is a series of chunks sewed together, but unlike in Brighter Shores, it is seamless. I also really dislike how the tile grid can be seen on the floor. In my perspective, this is a constant reminder that you are playing a video game and thus break any immersion there could have been.

The game also feels extremely linear compared to openness of RuneScape. The episode system design is baffling. There is apparently like 3 or 4 different combat skills per episode. What. It should also be mentioned that 500 being the skill cap is totally insane and overkill.

Although I had been pretty negative so far, I did write two positive aspects while I was writing my notes for this article. The game seems to have the same humor that RuneScape has, which is good. I also appreciate the fact that there is lots of interactivity to be had with scenery objects. For example, you can sit on benches and rest in bed. To be honest, I think this is the only thing this game does better than RuneScape so far.

This might come off as a bit mean, but Brighter Shores feel like someone AI generated - as if someone asked an AI to create a game similar to RuneScape. It feels sterile and clinical. It feels like a game was engineered in a laboratory with almost no human input. This absolutely baffling considering the lead developer is Andrew Gower. I wonder what went so wrong? I heard that this game was originally a solo Dungeon & Dragon simulator kind of thing. Perhaps Andrew should have stuck with this idea.

I also take note that the game made me feel physically unwell while watching a longplay in preparation for this article. I think I experienced an effect similar to the uncanny valley. This was probably caused by the game trying so hard to be like RuneScape while also obviously being something totally different. The only other time that happened in recent memories was while watching a review of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Needless to say that I am not going to touch Brighter Shores for a while.

Written by manpaint on 19 March 2025.