RuneScape creator's new cozy MMO shouts "No microtransactions!" from the rooftops as it charts November launch after a closed beta coming this month

Brighter Shores
(Image credit: Fen Research)

Original RuneScape creator Andrew Gower will make his return to MMOs with Brighter Shores, a new game now confirmed to be launching in Steam early access on November 6 following a closed beta that starts October 22. The base game will be free, with a premium pass available for purchase. 

Brighter Shores has more than a bit of RuneScape in it – rather, both games have a lot of Gower in them – right down to the isometric perspective, life skills like fishing and woodcutting, and a generally freewheeling adventure vibe. You start as a humble guard in the town of Hopeport in the fantasy world of Adothria, and soon break into the wider world. For his new game, Gower leaned into a tabletop RPG aesthetic with point-and-click interactions, and moved away from tick-based mechanics, giving Brighter Shores a smoother look. It also features more MMO-like combat classes than the likes of Old School RuneScape: Cryoknight, Guardian, and Hammermage. 

When Gower first revealed the game earlier this year, it was billed as an anti-grind MMO that stands opposed to "the onslaught of microtransactions in modern MMOs." A press release revealing the release date again specifies "No microtransactions!" as a main selling point, which feels mighty timely given the ongoing microtransaction discourse at modern RuneScape (3) shepherd Jagex. 

"Andrew Gower has specifically designed the game to be fun no matter how much free time players can spend on it, and without microtransactions," the release reads. "Brighter Shores allows players to explore, level up and solve quests at a pace that suits them. While there’s many hours of free content available, Fen Research will also be offering a paid premium pass for those who wish to discover even more of the game." 

"We're releasing Brighter Shores with plenty of features for players to sink their teeth into, but this is just the beginning," Gower adds. "We've planned an extensive roadmap of updates to keep our game fresh and exciting for years to come."

Brighter Shores

(Image credit: Fen Research)

I spoke to Gower extensively about the goals and vision for Brighter Shores – you can read our big March interview here. It started out as a way to prove Fen Research's custom game engine, and over roughly seven years of more direct production became its own game. 

The entire game was self-funded, and it's being self-published by the small team at Fen Research, meaning "no external investors, there's no publishers, there's no one breathing down my neck saying we've got to meet these guidelines." Gower has also pitched it as a long, relaxing journey which actively encourages some AFK play, "not a traditional MMO where you play, get to the endgame, and that's where the game actually starts."  

Brighter Shores' premium pass is notably a one-time thing. Gower previously told us that "auto-recurring subscriptions are a very hard sell these days," so the team "decided to just make a non-recurring payment, you can just buy a pass, get premium one time. It's not a commitment that you're gonna have to pay that forever.

"It gives you access to absolutely everything we've released up to that date," he continues. "But obviously, we expect that when we release new episodes, that will drive people to take out a premium pass to enjoy that new episode. And then we'll bring out another episode, and then they'll buy another premium pass to enjoy that season." 

On Steam, Fen Research says it expects Brighter Shores to be in early access for approximately six months, "maybe." Before leaving early access, the dev will add PvP, special attacks, and "Episode 5 - Stonemaw Hill." The dev promises "hundreds of hours of gameplay" in the launch build, with no account or server wipe coming. 

Terraria creator returns to Old School RuneScape, and within weeks catches the MMO dev's attention, fishes at a concert, and plots a unicorn ritual.

CATEGORIES
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

Read more
A player in space, firing a weapon at alien creatures in a pre-alpha screenshot of Stars Reach.
Making an MMO is like "founding a city" says Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies veteran, but his ambitious new sci-fi fantasy game sounds more like a "parallel world"
WalkScape
"Staying MTX and advertisement free is absolutely key": Almost 20 years later, RuneScape fan turns his MMO love into an old-school RPG where fitness is the grind
Three girls face the camera with big smiles in Animal Crossing New Horizons
Ultima Online lead says "Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley and all these other kind of cozy games" are filling a gap in modern MMO design
Legacy: Steel & Sorcery
A 13-year WoW veteran formed his own studio to make an RPG that plays like "World PvP: The Game" and feels like a mini MMO channeling "early Blizzard"
Sailing in Old School RuneScape
I was worried this MMO's first new skill in over 12 years would change things too much, but Sailing in Old School RuneScape feels just like home
Legacy: Steel & Sorcery
As live service flops pile up, ex-World of Warcraft dev says his new mini MMO doesn’t need to be the next Helldivers 2 or Marvel Rivals: “It will be more of a meager, smaller start"
Latest in MMO
WOTLK
Following a high-profile guild quitting WoW Classic Hardcore, Blizzard makes the unprecedented decision to revive MMO characters that die during DDoS attacks "at our sole discretion"
Dune Awakening
Dune Awakening launches for $50 without a stay in early access, and while the survival MMO "will not have a monthly subscription" it will have "optional" paid DLC
A WoW Classic player chased by a dinosaur in a green forest
"If this is just how it is, then yeah, that's the end": WoW Classic's most famous hardcore guild calls time for now after multiple raiders lose their MMO characters to DDoS attacks
World of Warcraft
My newest MMO hero is World of Warcraft Priest 'Chimneytime,' who got an official "warning" from Blizzard for making too many people get trapped inside chimneys
Dungeon Fighter Online
One of the oldest action MMOs around gets its first level cap update in years: "The main focus of this update is to emphasize the core RPG experience - the fun of farming"
A purple scholar reads a text in a World of Warcraft library
WoW Classic might be getting a legendary weapon that's been the subject of rumors in the MMO's mainline version for 20 years
Latest in News
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo looking at a giant key which is also a clue
Netflix is rebooting Scooby-Doo as a live-action series from the producer of Supergirl and The Flash centered around a "supernatural murder" at a summer camp
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"