RuneScape finally updates its player avatars after over a decade
New faces, new hair, and a long-overdue wardrobe upgrade
- RuneScape adds modernised player avatars and chatheads
- Updated hairstyles, outfits, and starter gear refresh the look
- Part 2 of the avatar overhaul is planned for later this year
RuneScape's avatars are getting new faces. For a game in its 25th anniversary year, I think it’s probably overdue.
The Player Avatar update is now live, introducing modernised head and body models with matching chatheads, new and refreshed hairstyles for both character types, and an updated set of base outfits.
The most popular items from Thessalia's shop have also been refined, so the starting wardrobe actually looks like it belongs in 2026. It's the biggest visual overhaul RuneScape has seen in over a decade, which is either an impressive claim or says something about how long the old ones had been running.
A Part 2 is coming this autumn, with more details expected in the coming months.
This lands as part of the Road to Restoration, a year-long plan announced at the start of RuneScape's 25th anniversary year, going after the parts that had aged less gracefully. Combat got an overhaul in March, making the three original styles more approachable while keeping the underlying depth.
DailyScape activities were cut back too, after community feedback made clear that the daily login pressure felt more like homework than content, and that the rewards were disproportionately higher than anything else in the game. Worth noting if you bounced off RuneScape in recent years for that reason.
Visual Regrounding is still to come, aimed at pulling the aesthetic back toward a coherent identity. The plan is to remove items and cosmetics that feel thematically out of place, intrusive particle effects included. The press release calls out the Fury Shark Suit by name. You know the one.
RuneScape is available on the App Store and Google Play, and the Player Avatar update is live now.
Our list of the top MMOs on Android is a good place to start if you're after something to fill the gaps.
