Look, I’ve chopped down enough digital trees to power a small nation. From Minecraft’s blocky oaks to Valheim’s towering pines, I’ve swung axes until my fingers cramped and my soul withered. So when RuneScape: Dragonwilds promised to fix survival gaming’s most tedious ritual with actual magic, I was skeptical. Another developer claiming they’d cracked the code? Sure.
Then I unlocked Axtral Projection.
RuneScape, But Make It Survival
Picture this: you’re standing in a forest, staring down a line of perfectly good trees. In any other survival game, you’d be there for the next ten minutes, clicking each trunk individually while your stamina bar weeps.
But in Dragonwilds, you conjure a spectral pink axe that hurls itself down the entire row, felling every tree in a single, satisfying cascade. It’s the kind of moment that makes you pause and think, “Why hasn’t anyone done this before?”
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That’s the magic of Dragonwilds… Litterally. Developer Jagex has taken their beloved RuneScape formula and transplanted it into survival territory, creating something that feels both familiar and surprisingly fresh.
Set on the mysterious continent of Ashenfall, where ancient dragons have stirred from their slumber, this isn’t just another “punch trees, build base, repeat” affair.
The game follows RuneScape’s trademark skill system, letting you level nine different abilities from Attack to Construction to the wonderfully named Runecrafting. Each skill comes with its own progression tree, unlocking new spells that transform mundane tasks into magical moments.
Rocksplosion lets you detonate entire ore veins. Windstep turns you into a magical parkour master. These aren’t just fancy animations slapped onto the same old mechanics — they genuinely change how you interact with the world.
Of course, you still start like every other survival game protagonist: confused, hungry, and armed with nothing but determination and possibly a stick.
Dragons, Rats, and the Grind
The opening hours follow the familiar scripture: gather berries, craft basic tools, kill your first giant rat (because it’s always giant rats). But once those spell unlocks start flowing, the tedium melts away like snow in a dragon’s breath.
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Speaking of dragons, they’re not just window dressing here. These massive beasts cast shadows across valleys as they soar overhead, their roars rattling your bones and reminding you that you’re very much at the bottom of Ashenfall’s food chain.
The ultimate goal is taking down the Dragon Queen herself — though that content remains tantalisingly out of reach in the current Early Access build.
And that’s where we need to talk honestly about Dragonwilds’ current state. This is Early Access done right in some ways and frustratingly in others.
Early Access
The magic system works beautifully, the building mechanics rival Valheim’s satisfying construction, and the world of Ashenfall genuinely feels mystical and dangerous.
But combat feels clunky, the Magic and Ranged skill trees are marked “coming soon,” and at $40-plus, it’s asking premium prices for an unfinished experience.
Blocking feels inconsistent, parrying only works when the game feels like it, and drinking a potion takes longer than some boss fights.
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When a dire wolf decides you look tasty, you’ll find yourself kiting it around your base like you’re running a very deadly marathon, praying your stamina holds out. It’s the kind of frustration that can sour an otherwise magical experience.
Still, there’s something special brewing here. Playing with friends transforms the experience where one person can focus on magical woodcutting while another masters combat spells, creating genuine cooperation rather than just parallel grinding.
The world design captures RuneScape’s quirky charm while feeling genuinely dangerous and mysterious. Every ruined vault and floating rune stone hints at deeper lore waiting to be uncovered.
What impresses me most is how Dragonwilds addresses survival gaming’s fundamental problem: the incredible tedium of basic tasks.
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Other games have tried to solve this with automation or faster gathering, but Jagex went nuclear and just made it magical. When you’re hurling spectral axes through forests or exploding mountainsides with a gesture, the traditional survival grind transforms into something genuinely enjoyable.
The Foundations of Something Great
Is Dragonwilds worth your time right now? That depends on your tolerance for Early Access jank and your faith in Jagex’s long-term vision. If you’re expecting a polished competitor to Valheim, you’ll be disappointed. But if you’re curious about where survival games could evolve, or if you’ve ever dreamed of making tree-chopping genuinely magical, Dragonwilds offers a tantalising glimpse of possibilities.
The dragons have awakened on Ashenfall, and they’ve brought genuinely innovative ideas with them. Whether those ideas can carry a full game remains to be seen, but for the first time in years, chopping digital wood feels like magic again. And in a genre drowning in sameness, that’s worth celebrating.
As always — 1v1 me in the Wildy. Also, no… I’m not selling my full rune.
Access to Runescape: Dragonwilds was supplied to Quest Daily by the publisher.
