Old School RuneScape's Hardcore Worlds opened on November 4 at 11:00 UTC, and they are live on every platform the game runs on, iPhone, iPad and Android included. Jagex has set aside 30 dedicated servers where death is permanent: one bad fight and the character's run is over. Unlike the long-running Hardcore Ironman mode, though, these worlds let you trade, and they share a Grand Exchange that belongs to them alone.
How to get in
Hardcore Worlds need a completely fresh character, one that has not yet finished Tutorial Island. Partway through the tutorial, near the Iron Tutor, a new NPC called Death's Delegate asks whether you want to take on Death's challenge. Say yes, finish up with the Magic Instructor, and your Home Teleport no longer drops you outside Lumbridge Castle. It sends you to Death's Office, where the Grim Reaper himself sends you on to a Hardcore World.
The worlds run at the same pace as the main game. Jagex says there are no XP boosts or drop-rate modifiers of any kind, so a Hardcore character levels exactly as quickly as a normal one. The difference is how much is at stake when something goes wrong.
30 worlds across seven regions
The launch line-up is 30 servers: ten on the US East Coast, eight on the US West Coast, five each in Germany and the UK, two in Australia, and one each in Brazil and Singapore. Most are general-purpose, but some are set aside for particular activities. Group PvM gets five worlds, Wintertodt gets two, and Barbarian Assault gets two. Blast Furnace, Forestry, Guardians of the Rift, Pest Control and Tempoross get one each.
Death's Office is now a social hub
Death's Office used to be private to each player. Now it is shared, so new Hardcore players stand next to people who have just been killed by Varrock's Dark Wizards on regular worlds. You can't trade there, but the office is the one place where you can hop between Hardcore Worlds and the main game. You can use it to meet friends, join a clan or gift membership.
Death also sells Escape Crystals for 10,000 coins each, and every new Hardcore character starts with one free. A new mirror in the room opens a 'Death Report', an interface that tracks a character's progress and notable achievements.
Which deaths count
This is not an Ironman mode. Hardcore characters can trade freely and use the Grand Exchange. However, the economy is completely separate from the main game, so items earned on Hardcore Worlds can only be bought and sold there. Last Man Standing and Bounty Hunter are not available on these worlds at all.
The death rules come straight from Hardcore Group Ironman, and they will catch out players used to the main game. The TzHaar Fight Cave, the Inferno, Chambers of Xeric, Nightmare Zone, Pest Control, Barbarian Assault, the Magic Training Arena, the Rogues' Den, random events and deaths inside a player-owned house all count as real deaths. Only a short list is safe: Castle Wars, Clan Wars, Soul Wars, TzHaar Fight Pit, the final duel with Koschei the Deathless in The Fremennik Trials, and the resurrection rewards from the Karamja Elite and Western Provinces Elite diaries.
Reset or transfer
When a Hardcore character dies, you have two options. Reset wipes everything, including quests, stats and items, and puts you back at the start, as if you had just stepped off Tutorial Island. Resets are unlimited. Your bank PIN and settings survive a reset, but Jagex has put a three-day cooldown on the Stronghold of Security gold so new runs can't be farmed for coins.
Transfer moves the character to the main game for good, with no way back. The character keeps its bank, its other storage and its protected items. Whichever you choose, anything that would normally go to your gravestone is lost permanently.
The Reaper's Raffle
Throughout November, playing on Hardcore Worlds earns entries into the Reaper's Raffle. Players get entries for completing a list of tasks from Death, most of which Jagex says you will do anyway on a normal run. The draw takes place on a livestream on December 8. Prizes include official OSRS merchandise, a custom Death statue, a Starforge PC bundle, OSRSBricks sets and creator-made items. Jagex's Reaper's Raffle post lists the tasks and works as a personal tracker.
Why it matters on mobile
Old School RuneScape on mobile isn't a cut-down version. It is the same game on the same servers, and a Hardcore character can be played on a phone and a PC interchangeably. That makes a permadeath run something you can carry around, but the stakes are the same everywhere. The Wilderness doesn't care whether you dropped your connection on a train. Anyone starting a Hardcore run on a phone should be playing somewhere with a reliable connection.
Hardcore Worlds are live now in Old School RuneScape on PC, iOS and Android. A brand-new account is all you need to try one.
