Exploring RuneScape’s CURSED Deleted Content

RuneScape has a lot of really weird deleted content. Today we're going to take a look at some of my favorites that Jagex has hidden away in old versions of the game. Cursed Zanik, the lost Abyssal Whip design, the abandoned Hunger Games map, and so much more thanks to the RuneScape Archive Project!

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[thefatpakyak]

Over 15 years of playing and I did not know Zanaris was RuneScape’s moon 💀

[grxryder]

I KNEW I WASNT CRAZY FOR THINKING ZANIK WAS DIFFERENT!

[Grim_the_Clown]

Ngl every time I get to the wizards tower bridge I still expect the bend, or when I’m on the bridge I think I’m in the wrong area because the bend isn’t there. I don’t know why that bend stuck with me. Guess when I was younger and being f2p draynor was one of my favourite areas. Bridge and the taverly gate both iconic for me.

[FSAPOJake]

One missing asset that's been driving me nuts since 2009 is the redesigned Runescape HD fire cape. In 2008, the fire cape got redesigned for the HD update. Players hated it, so the old design was brought back shortly after and hasn't been changed since.

I read this little factoid on the Runescape wiki, but even back then there were no pictures or videos of the redesigned fire cape. I hope someday the Runescape archive project succeeds in finding it. We would need an archive of the game from the day of the launch of HD, and I just dont feel like thatll be easy to come by.

[silverscreen]

Another banger. You own this corner of RS content. I always learn something new. Keep it up!

[HeyyyItsMars]

Zanaris questline: mentions MULTIPLE TIMES that Zanaris is the moon
POH: has a literal celestial model of the universe you can build that includes Zanaris as the moon
Players: “holy shit Zanaris is the moon?!”

[spiritofnex]

Cursed Zanik will always haunt my dreams. Also, I remember the old wizards tower and Zanaris. I personally liked the look of an underground forest, but I do prefer the current look. Also, the gatekeeper was originally known as the Door Man, and looked completely different.

[faceheadman]

the big bend in the bridge you mentioned made that part of the map waay easier to mentally keep land marked (for me at least). i also recall it having a really dark pixelated brick texture that made the whole area more atmospheric

[terrafirma]

Little notes about Castle Wars:
The bandage table wasn't outside the spawn room on the 1st floor, but alongside the other tables on the ground floor. There was some tech where you would approach the ladder from the east side (Sara) or west side (Zammy) to land directly next to the table to stock up, instead of going down the ladder normally and having to walk around the wall to the table.
Also, the first few days when the spawn room had doors, it was faster to just climb the ladder and go down the stairs instead of waiting your turn.

[gamewithadam]

Gonna guess the castle wars NPCs were originally the only ones able to take the flags and you had to defend them. It would be a cool concept if there were 2 flags. Ones players could capture and sneakily obtain for less points. And ones the NPCs can capture for more points but you have to have the trouble of defending them.

[gamewithadam]

I think the summoning staves were originally designed to make familiars do more damage to summon more familiars. It would have probably been a bit like RuneScape 3 necromancy but instead they decided for summoning to be a combat support skill instead of a 4th combat style. In my opinion it would have been cool to see it as a 4th combat style and summon multiple familiars, finding the best combination for certain things. It could have made your summoning points drain very quickly or had negative effects that the staves reduced or improved. Maybe you could only summon one familiar of each type and you had to use the staves and other summoning equipment to get your perfect trio of monsters or however many you were supposed to summon. Maybe you were meant to fuse the bronze iron and steel titans or the idea was to fuse all the tiers of minotaurs to make a much stronger one for example. Or you needed to use bunyip to heal the steel titan and other ones to buff his damage. A bit like dragonquest monster teams. I think that would have been way better and more fun. But then they must have realised it wasn't fun standing around watching them fight while you couldn't or allowing people to attack and swap weapons was too OP. But I think with the right balance finding the right synergy of monsters and summoning gear would be very fun. Truffles were maybe a form of healing familiars or specific ones, so having the Broav would have been a good synergy to certain other familiars since you could heal them more efficiently or buff them after they consume truffles. Maybe that was the "active" part of the skill put into practice.

[clairehickey]

Woah, just got a weird wave of nostalgia when I saw the old Zanaris map. Obviously hadn't seen the original version since it got updated like 18 years ago.

[Zairin.]

its nice to see how much this project has found. tamatown has a similar project, and it's barely a fraction of the way towards recreating a recent, and working version.

[DominicGreene]

It’s always interesting to see old content discussed. It’s probably impossible to find the post since it was so long ago, but I remember making a post in the suggestion forum about metallic chain whips and then not much later seeing abyssal whips get implemented into the game. Did my suggestion have a hand in that? Probably not, it was probably in development for some time at that point, but it’s always fun to wonder every now and then, and it inadvertently gives that little extra bit of intrinsic value to the whip for me as well.

[gamewithadam]

That artist took the good goblin design way too literally.

[tacticaljuice]

I literally played this game once when I was 13 and now at 32 years old I’m somehow hooked on this channel

[astralket]

love the content colonello! i started making a max series and i watch your videos while i train! love it!

[CarterCarter-xnsg]

I wish they had more RS3 channels like this, there is none.

[purrassic]

I'm late to finding your channel, but I've really been enjoying it! I couldn't help but post an idea (or two) for truffles! Perhaps truffles could be used to upgrade a clue scroll? Weighted and balanced quantities. If not, people use truffles to enhance the flavor of food, so how about having a truffle add to the recovery level of food? Again, balanced. Keep up the fun content!

[nicksacco]

Thank God they changed Zanik. Literally nightmare fuel