Early RuneScape 2 Has Been Preserved
On 15 April 2025, the Lost City / 2004scape dev team released an update that added Legends' Quest to the game. This is an important day in RuneScape and game preservation history as this now mean that for the first time ever, there exists an open source version of RuneScape 2 that is feature complete. Yes, you read that right, it has all interactions, minigames, quests - every piece of content is there. RuneScape as it was during build 225 (18 May 2004) has been fully preserved.
This is a monumental win for RuneScape players and the open source RuneScape community. Whatever happens from now on, we can at the very least be assured that one fully archived version of the game exist out there.
Although the initial setup requires an internet connection due to some online dependency, the game can afterward be played offline. I tested it in an offline Windows 10 virtual machine and can confirm that this is indeed, the real deal.
The following is a list of developers whose names should be remembered for helping preserve this game is dear to us (names are pulled from the server repo):
- AmVoidGuy
- AmmoniteMoths
- BiniBot
- Collin-M
- Desetude
- Detaetious
- Devenir377
- EricBartusch
- Espionage724
- FlenarnTemp
- FraserGilbert
- GitDroo
- Gregf36665
- Indio3
- Jameskmonger
- Joshua-F
- K-John
- Katilith
- KeepBotting
- MattG12323
- MattGould1
- MrAshieB
- NoHandlebars87
- NormoZenyte
- Pazaz
- Rohanlogs
- StealthyApe
- Subby
- TaskDan
- UnknownSeal
- Vexelior
- appelstroopwafel
- boogie-nights
- brandly
- burntmanta
- cernodile
- dhemms
- emmiscape
- henke96
- hex-agon
- howspooky
- ipkpjersi
- jzabulenas
- kennethedmonds
- kylmp
- lesleyrs
- locked-chest
- manpaint
- mark-b5
- nerium-oleander
- noted-shark
- o-k-a-y
- oldm8clint
- peli-louise
- pelippper
- puremana
- rust-fox
- seditionist
- stomponbabyheads
- tannerdino
- thesuddensilent
- toomykins
- tyler27
- ultraviolet-jordan
- vulprs
- williamistGitHub
- www
- xVye
- xylphie
- zeruth
- zsrv
Although I technically contributed to the project, it should be noted that I only changed 6 strings of text relating to the Duel Arena (I imported some historical data I found in RuneLibris). All the acclaim should go to the rest of the team who actually worked on this amazing project.
The Lost City team intents to preserve other RuneScape version based on update release order. I sincerely hope that this project goes on for many years to come.
You can download Lost City / 2004scape from their GitHub repo. If you are a fan of RuneScape, I would highly recommend check it out. An online version of this project can be played here.
Written by manpaint on 19 April 2025.