RuneScape rebuilds player-owned housing around a new build mode

RuneScape has overhauled player-owned housing in an update released in mid-July, reworking both how houses are constructed and what players can do inside them, Rock Paper Shotgun reported. The update is live.

The centrepiece is a rebuilt building mode. Layouts can be mixed and matched using prefab rooms that connect into custom spaces, and furniture can be placed freely rather than dropped into fixed positions. Rock Paper Shotgun put the total number of decorative items at more than 650, and compared the resulting toolset to The Sims in the way it handles house building.

Crafting is a substantial part of the system. Recipes for household items are unlocked through quests and other in-game routes, and the Construction skill has been extended to level 120 to accommodate the additional material.

Houses built to be used

The update also gives players reasons to stay in a house rather than pass through it. Installable facilities include a potion cauldron, gilded altars, combat practice devices and storage options. Players can additionally display what they have earned elsewhere in the game — weapons, boss trophies and archaeological finds among the items that can be put out on show.

The second addition is Homestead, a system that lets a player build on a large plot of land shared with up to four others. The result is a small neighbourhood rather than an isolated house, and members can use one another’s facilities, so a group can divide the work — one player maintaining potion-making equipment while another handles cooking.

Housing has been part of RuneScape for years through the Construction skill, and this update is a rework of that existing system rather than a new one bolted alongside it. Rock Paper Shotgun described the change as bringing the game’s house building close to a dedicated builder, with the shared Homestead plots the clearest break from how player-owned houses previously worked.