RuneScape is 15 years old at this point, and with such an old engine powering it there are numerous issues that have became increasingly annoying over the course of its life, most notably the sketchy performance on modern machines, poor draw distance, graphics that rival those of a PlayStation game, and so forth.

Thankfully, these problems have now been mostly solved as RuneScape has finally made its transition to a brand new visual engine, and modern client. Here's the trailer showcasing the improvements, as well as a short overview of what the team plans to enhance next:

To briefly recap the video, RuneScape NXT has brought in a massively extended draw distance (up to four times greater than before), all-new fancy water effects complete with real-time reflections, dynamic lighting and shadows, improved performance across the board (ranging from ancient PCs, to more modern ones), and most importantly for the future, support for DirectX 12, so that any graphical overhaul down the line can be handled easily.

And if that wasn't enough, you'll be glad to hear that the developers are currently working on a brand new set of improvements that will be arriving to RuneScape over the coming months: further enhancements to the game's visuals, introduction of higher-resolution textures, use of volumetric lighting, and most importantly, an improved animation system!

The new draw distance is quite the upgrade

While I never got in to RuneScape myself, I am incredibly glad Jagex decided to dedicate so much of their time and effort in order to ensure that RuneScape remains relevant far in to the future, because as far as truly hardcore/persistent MMORPGs go, you don't really have much of a selection to chose from.

You can download RuneScape and play the limited version for free over at the RuneScape website.