Awesome Games Done Quick 2021 raised $2.75 million for charity
Here are a few of our fave speedruns from the week
Seven-day speedrunning marathon Awesome Games Done Quick 2021 has ended, raising a brilliant $2,758,847 million (around £2 million) for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. It's the second-highest amount ever raised at the event, right behind last year's winter marathon, which is pretty good going considering this year was the first fully digital AGDQ.
Despite not having a roaring crowd sat behind them, the speedrunners still put on an excellent show from the comfort of their own homes. Here are a few of my fave runs from the week.
To start with, speedruns of Hades are great to watch because it's one of the only games at AGDQ that runners just play normally. There are no glitches or exploits, no clipping through walls or flinging yourself across the map - they're simply playing the game as intended, but really bloody quickly.
As for a game that most certainly is not played normally, please watch runner "PeekingBoo" play Celeste with a dance pad. He slams through the game's eight unlockable C-Side levels in a speedy 14 minutes. It made me tired just watching him hop about on his dance pad, I can't imagine how knackered he must've been after this.
Another good'un is the Dishonored 2 run. Runner "DemonicRobots" manages to destroy the typically 20-hour game in just over 30 minutes, providing some excellent commentary while he's doing it. The routes that he uses to blast through each level are super clever, and goes to show how great the map design is too.
Then we have a record-breaker! These three players managed to smash the Diablo 3 speedrun world record with some absolutely incredible coordination. They get pretty lucky early on with rare item drops - but don't let that fool you, there's so much more than luck involved here. This one is a must-watch.
Last but not least, you need to watch this Mario 64 speedrun. I know it's not PC, but I'm giving it special privilege to go on this list because the runner does it blindfolded and it's one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. This video might as well be 40 minutes of me saying, "oh my god, how."
All of the runs from the last week are uploaded to YouTube now, so head over to the AGDQ 2021 playlist to watch some more speedy gaming.
There's still time to donate too, if you'd like to chip in. You can find the form to do so on the GDQ website.
Every event these folks inspire me and I think, "yes, this is the year I will try speedrunning". I reckon I could give Hades a shot, or maybe something like Hollow Knight. What game would you attempt speedrunning, reader?