HIGHSPELL

One day in early 2002, I sprinted from my elementary school bus stop and went straight to the shared PC in my family's living room. Booting it up anxiously, I quickly went to search for a game called "RuneScape." A friend of mine in my class mentioned it that day and I knew I had to play it.

Wizards. Dragons. High adventure! It was advertised as having everything I wanted - at least, judging from the minor buzz online. For the next 23+ years, I was hooked. RuneScape Classic. RuneScape 2. Oldschool RuneScape. (Sorry RuneScape 3.) Every so often, I get a hankering so strong for RuneScape I have to resub and play for a few months. While I don't have the time (or money) to play consistently anymore, I definitely spend 3 months per year regularly playing RuneScape.

With adult responsibilities and less disposable income, I find myself searching for alternatives that scratch that itch. Thankfully, there's been a glut of RuneScape-like MMOs hitting the scene in these past few years as those with nostalgia for it grow into young game developers. That brings us to Highspell.

Highspell is a browser-based RSC-clone created by developer "Dew" and launched back in 2020. This RSC-clone has been relatively under the radar but gained recent traction from the recent GenFanAd snafu (RIP). Since 2020, it has been receiving regular updates and has a fan-maintained wiki of middling quality (compared to other, similar, low population games.) The game, since I started playing in early May, has seen around 100 daily online players during various times of the day (sort of... we'll see about this later.)

As a RuneScape clone, Highspell has the player in the role of an adventurer in a fantasy world. Players begin the game in the small town of Middlefern in the center of the map. Gameplay revolves around training various skills - melee combat, defense, magic, potionmaking, crime, to name a few - with the purpose of leveling them up and unlocking further content. Crafting skills are used to produce higher-level items and goods, with which players can trade with NPCs or other players and often provide some kind of gameplay benefit - new weapons and potions, for example. Combat skills are used to fight and kill NPCs and allow players to harvest various drops (gold, ingredients, etc.) from the fallen. Each skill has a max level of 99 and each level requires an ever-increasing amount of experience to level up. In a traditional RuneScape-esque game, the grind for these levels is considered the reward, as well as fueling status and trade with other players. Modern RuneScape (RS3 and OSRS) focus on traditional forms of MMO endgames - high level solo and team bosses and PvM content. At the moment, there is only one high level boss in HighSpell and it is taken down relatively easily with a group of players. As such, the goal right now in HighSpell is definitely the grind and status.

The main strengths of HighSpell are its accessibility, comfiness, community, and developer. HighSpell is very accessible - low graphic intensity and ability to play in-browser or on the phone for free allow anyone and everyone to join in on the game. I can log in, grind for a few hours while doing something else, and log off very easily. HighSpell is a very comfy game - the grind is relaxing and straightforward. Graphics are simple but classic and readable. Seeing your character progress slowly from an armorless peasant to a warrior in full Celadon armor is enjoyable and reflects hard work. The community of the game stands out as a positive. A few days ago I spent a few hours chatting with other players from my home state about, well, lots of stuff. The game, life, other entertainment. The community is very welcoming and friendly and responds well to active chatting. The game features a global chat to facilitate this. Lastly, Dew, the developer, is highly responsive to feedback and suggestions on the game's Discord server. He explains the reasoning behind his decisions and since joining I have seen a few updates that resulted specifically from community feedback.

Now for the negatives - of which there are some. For me, the strongest part of RuneScape has always been its quests. RuneScape quests are like no other. Exceeding the standard "kill X mobs for y items" quests you see in other MMOs, RuneScape's quests involve traveling large distances, reading through well-written and crafted dialog, and brain-teasing puzzles and combat to tell incredibly rich fantasy stories. In HighSpell, which has been playable for 4-5 years, there are four quests. The dialog in those four quests is certainly lacking and wanting compared to RuneScape's. This is not a personal criticism of the lone dev, but the dialog definitely needs work. It feels very much like the dev is trying to mimic RuneScape dialog without the dialog-writing chops.

Another issue for me is that a few skills - especially Magic, Ranged, and Enchanting - seem difficult to train and utilize in the main game. These skills involve serious grinds for components - wood for magic scrolls (Highspell's equivalent of RuneScape's magic runes) for Enchanting, arrows for Ranged, magic scrolls for Magic. As forms of combat, Ranged and Magic use too many resources compared to melee - and the resources are slow to craft or expensive to buy from players. As an example, the first level Magic spell requires two Water Scrolls and one Fury Scroll. Water Scrolls are crafted by Enchanting at level one - no problem! However, Fury Scrolls - necessary for the first level Magic spell - can't be crafted until level 25 Enchanting. This means that, unless buying for high prices (for newbs) from higher level players or botted shops, players will have to grind to level 25 Enchanting before training Magic regularly. Melee gear is easily obtainable via Mining and Smithing, which are fast, AFK-able, and profitable. I would love to see a rebalancing of Enchanting and producing/obtaining arrows to better train Magic and Ranged.

Lastly, there is a botting issue. HighSpell is a niche RSC-clone with a small community. Many players are botting - especially to train Ranged and Enchanting - and crowding out newer players from resources. As HighSpell grows, I am sure this issue will be addressed more strongly but I do worry about its future if it is allowed to continue indefinitely.

While my negatives may seem to outweight the positives, I do strongly recommend HighSpell. I hope that more players will encourage the dev to improve systems within the game. It is free, it is fun, and it's a relaxing grind. You should check out HighSpell today!