Video summary

What If The OSRS Backup Was From 2006?

Main summary

Key takeaways

Entertainment

Overview

The video explores a “what if” scenario for Old School RuneScape: instead of using an August 10, 2007 RuneScape 2 backup to build OSRS, Jagex used an August 10, 2006 backup. The creator then walks through how a single-year shift would likely change OSRS’s:

  • world
  • quests
  • aesthetics
  • major updates

Main changes and highlights

Map differences

Several key locations from OSRS likely wouldn’t exist in the 2006-based version, with the biggest missing piece called out as:

  • Fossil Island(s)

Other potentially missing/changed areas mentioned include:

  • Feldip Hills
  • Dorish(?) Kon

Because of these changes, some modern OSRS references and content ties—such as the implication behind “Nate isn’t Helm”—would likely not appear either.

Missing hunting content

Since certain additions didn’t exist until after the 2006 snapshot:

  • Feldip Hills hunting would not exist at all.

The creator also suggests that skills might show up only partially (e.g., traces without a full system), which would alter:

  • early skill progression and the way players experience progression over time

Quest knock-on effects (and the “domino” jokes)

The video emphasizes how missing quests in the 2006 snapshot could ripple into missing OSRS staples:

  • Animal Magnetism would be missing—joked as meaning the loss of the community’s beloved AA accumulator (framed as a former reward “fashion/cosmetic flex”).
  • The King’s Ransom missing would likely delay or prevent the Piety prayer
    • though the host speculates it could be reintroduced later.

Visual and audio overhaul

Graphics

A major expectation is that the 2006-era overlay would be common across clients—similar to how OSRS’s community already uses legacy-like overlays today. Along with the UI overlay shift:

  • NPC models would differ
  • item models would differ

Examples of enemies mentioned with model changes include:

  • goblins, demons, dragons, imps, spiders, guards, and more

Combat item list changes

Many items that later became staples (or “best in slot”) might be missing, including:

  • Fighter torso / Barrows gear equivalents
  • Barrel/Anchor
  • Dragon arrows/darts
  • Dragonfire shield
  • Dragon full helm
  • Berserker necklace

Music

Most sound would remain similar, but some tracks would be missing or different. “C Shanty 2” is used as an example—described as not major, but still noticeable.

Updates that might still happen—but shift order

The creator lists additions that could still plausibly occur within the broader 2006 → 2007 timeline, including:

  • Barbarian Training
  • Kourend / Western equivalent achievement diaries
  • Verac museum expansion and the Kudos system
  • Clan chat
    • claimed it might have been among the first updates, since it was very close to the 2007 cut

Biggest “could we even get it?” moment: God Wars Dungeon

The video’s primary speculation is that OSRS might never receive God Wars Dungeon:

  • The dungeon was reportedly nearly completed in the 2007 backup Jagex used, allowing the smaller OSRS team to ship it quickly.
  • With a 2006 backup, there would be nothing finished to build from, meaning the team likely couldn’t recreate it in time—potentially taking months to years, if it happened at all.

It also suggests that God Wars items might appear eventually, but without the actual dungeon.

Extra callouts

  • Corporal Beast: the backup apparently lacked the needed content, so recreating the model required weeks of rebuilding work—implying 2006 would shift/break that availability.
  • Dungeoneering idea: the video references player suggestions that bringing in Dungeoneering would be huge—potentially around a year of development time.

Overall tone

The video is mostly a structured “timeline divergence” analysis—how missing quests/content triggers broader world and update changes—punctuated with a few memorable light jokes, such as:

  • Missing quests → missing famous rewards (especially the AA accumulator fashion-flex idea).
  • “Not major but noticeable” differences to music/graphics.

Personalities appearing

  • Video narrator/creator (unnamed in the subtitles)
  • Redditor “Lord goer 2” (cited as the source of many points)

Original video