Hot off the release of Old School RuneScape's first new skill, Sailing, developer Jagex announced a suite of content coming to the sandbox MMO in 2026, including new installments in fan-favorite events and a long-awaited raid.
As Jagex announced at its winter summit showcase, Sailing is a focus for the year and even has its own miniature roadmap. In spring, boat combat will get some welcome improvements. Summer will see a broader Sailing combat update, the second quest in the Tortugan line, and the addition of a player-designed island. In the fall, another "existing storyline" will receive a sequel quest, and a new Barracuda Trial will be added to spice up Sailing training. Looking further "beyond," Jagex teases a "sea expansion" adding more waters to be charted.
The first entry on the main roadmap is Deadman Annihilation, a new version of the MMO's PvP free-for-all mode, running through February 21. This installment will feature new "sigils, chests, and breaches," and notably will not feature the bank keys that proved to be game-changers in the past.
We'll see more of Deadman mode in June with the official Deadman: Allstars tournament, featuring a crew of OSRS content creators and PvP experts. This event will mark "the first time an Old School RuneScape event has taken place outside of the UK," which Jagex chalks up to "the continued expansion and success of the game."
In April, the limited-time PvE-focused mode Leagues will return with Leagues VI: Demonic Pacts. Jagex is teasing the return of souped-up Echo bosses, new tasks and relics to change up progression and builds, and "reimagined" combat masteries for pinnacle players.
The annual Summer Sweep Up will drill into player-polled problems or areas of untapped potential, joined by the summer release of Blood Moon Rises, a rare Grandmaster-tier quest and the finale of the Myreque questline that began all the way back in 2005 with In Search of the Myreque.
Heading into fall, Jagex says it will put grid functionality for "bingo events" in players' hands. This follows the more compact Grid Master community event of fall 2025, which took challenges and bonuses similar to Leagues, compressed them down, and put them on a grid where ticking off rows of tasks would unlock powerful bonuses.
The crown jewel for many players, I suspect, will be the new raid planned for this winter, The Fractured Archive. Jagex says it will be "Old School's toughest raid yet," beating out 2022's Tombs of Amascut, 2018's Theatre of Blood, and 2017's Chambers of Xeric. The rewards for this fourth raid will be polled later this year. Place your bets now on what will be the next Tumeken's Shadow or Twisted Bow-tier addition.
At the other end of PvE, players in both free-to-play and membership worlds can look forward to the game jam-born cow boss Brutus. At last, RuneScape's very own cow level.
