Brighter Shores vs Runescape: What’s the Difference?

Brighter Shores has finally been released, designed by Andrew Gower of Runescape fame… but what’s the difference between these two games?

Considering that both games were designed by Gower and both are MMORPGs, you might assume that this basically going to be just a new Runescape. Truthfully, though, there are way more differences than you would expect!

In this article, we’ll go over the major differences that help Brighter Shores set itself apart from Runescape.

Every Notable Difference Between Brighter Shores and Runescape

Episodic Structure

The first and most controversial difference between Brighter Shores and Runescape is that Brighter Shores adopts an episodic format for its content.

Every new region is its own Episode, essentially. That means that the world is more segmented than in Runescape. More notably, though, this also affects the Professions you can take. Every Episode has its own set of Professions, such as only having Fisher in Episode 1 (Hopeport) and Miner in Episode 3 (Mine of Mantuban), for example.

For those unaware, Professions are basically the same thing as Skills in Runescape. They work pretty much the same and are only different in name, such as Runescape’s Cooking being Brighter Shores’ Cheff

Anyway, it’s worth noting that even your basic combat class counts as Profession (Guard in Episode 1, for example). What’s more, your gear is tied to your combat Profession so it doesn’t carry over between Episodes either. That all means that you essentially start every Episode from scratch, with no skills or gear.

However, this doesn’t mean that your progress is deleted. There’s a common misconception that your progress gets reset, but that’s not quite what happens. It simply is saved separately for each “Episode”. You can always return to a previous Episode whenever you wish and you’ll have all of your Profession progress. Plus, you get to carry items like consumables and materials between Episodes.

The upside to this structure is that it gives each area its own identity and also prevents the game from overwhelming new players with features. If you’ve ever started an MMORPG late into its lifespan, you should already know how overwhelming it can be to get a hundred tutorials for every single feature. The Episodes should at least help alleviate that, making Brighter Shores more welcoming to new and casual players.

Legendary Class System

Another big difference between Brighter Shores and Runescape is the class system. While Runescape has a fully classless progression system, Brighter Shores instead has more of a hybrid system.

You’ll have a basic combat class every Episode, as we mentioned before, which is treated similarly to Professions. However, on top of that, you’ll also get to pick and choose 1 out of 3 Factions. You’ll then have a permanent Legendary Class related to that Faction. These Factions and Legendary Classes are the Cryoknights, Guardians, and Hammermages.

However, there’s currently very little difference among these Legendary Classes. For now, they simply affect which type of elemental damage you deal in combat. Nonetheless, the developers already state that this class system is set to expand as the game’s development continues. The classes will become more distinct and there might even be more classes added later on!

To know more about the 3 Factions and classes currently in the game, check out which class is the best to choose.

Rooms and Grid-Based Exploration

Unlike Runescape, Brighter Shores has a more segmented style of exploration. It’s not just the Episodic structure we mentioned already, but also within the regions themselves.

Every region is comprised of multiple “room” segments instead of just being a large open world. Each room has multiple exits which lead into other rooms without any loading screens, but they remain separate. This gives the game a more old-school RPG feel, which is fairly charming. Your in-game map will expand and fill up as you explore more rooms, too!

Aside from that, this also helps with the game’s networking. This system allows the developers to create instances for every room to prevent them from being either too crowded or too empty. It helps moderate how many other players you see.

To tie this all together, movement in this game also uses a grid-based system. You don’t move around completely freely, since movement is more akin to a Tactical RPG. It’s not a huge deal, but it’s something worth noting for sure!

No Ticks

As any Runescape veteran should be aware, Runescape’s networking relies on a “tick” system. These were server cycles that took place every 0.6 seconds. Every single action in the game would only play out at the start of one of these ticks instead of having a real-time response.

Brighter Shores, on the other hand, opts for a much more standard real-time response system. Actions will start out instantly instead of being “queued” until the next tick, making the game more responsive. This is in line with pretty much every other modern MMORPG, so MMORPG fans should know what to expect.

Lesser Combat Focus

Now, this one is likely to change as Brighter Shores’ development progresses, but it’s true of the game in its current state. It simply has way less of a focus on combat than Runescape does.

Combat itself is much simpler, with basically no skills as of now. It ends up feeling more like an autobattler where you just have to focus on drinking Potions if need be. There are also almost no differences between classes currently, and they all feel the same to play. Combine that with the fact that battles are currently only 1-on-1 affairs and it all ends up feeling very simple.

Simply put, we feel that this simplistic combat is going to be a dealbreaker for the more hardcore MMORPG players. However, we think it’ll be nice for those of you who are seeking a more relaxed and cozy type of game than a hardcore RPG.

Monetization

Last but not least, it’s time to talk about the monetization. It’s a pretty big difference between Brighter Shores and the newest versions of Runescape, after all, especially Runescape 3.

Unlike Runescape, there are no plans to have microtransactions in Brighter Shores. Instead, the game has a subscription model called the Premium Pass. Subscribing to the Premium Pass unlocks a variety of features, such as player trades, as well as additional Episodes (Episodes 3 and 4 as of this writing).

However, you can also play the game for free without spending a dime. Episodes 1 and 2 are currently free, so you only need the Premium Pass if you wish to play Episodes 3 and 4. Considering how the Episodic structure works for this game, though, the game also sidesteps the issue of being pay-to-win. After all, all of your Episodes 3 and 4 combat progress stays exclusively within those Episodes!

It’s yet to be seen if the developers will make good on their word and stick to this lax monetization system, of course. However, they seem eager to avoid ruining the game with greedy monetization practices. They know all too well that a lot of players strongly dislike the microtransactions in Runescape 3…

But well, that’s the end of our article. These are all the most notable differences between Brighter Shores and Runescape. Despite being a sort of spiritual successor, Brighter Shores definitely does more than enough to set itself apart… even if some of the differences already have a pretty mixed reception.