Here's Summer Games Done Quick 2020's online speedrun schedule
Sofa-less speedrunning
Despite being delayed, then later moving entirely online due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Summer Games Done Quick is still preparing for some awfully fast gaming next month. The schedule for this year's event has just gone up, kicking off the annual week of charity speedrunning on Sunday, August 16th. Expect your usual bouts of boundary-breaking and donation shouting, of course, but can you really call it GDQ without the couch banter?
Yeah, probably.
GDQ organisers held a one-off Corona Relief Done Quick earlier this year, raising over $400,000 for personal protective equipment and medical support in the US. But the Summer show must still go on, raising funds for Doctors Without Borders in an online-only event taking place this August. There's a high bar to beat, mind, with last year's event raising a cool $3 million.
So: The games! This year sees Half-Life: Alyx make its GDQ debut as a "bonus game" on Friday 21st. I've a real soft spot for seeing how successive generations of speedrunners have broken the Half-Life series across each game and engine update, and I'm keen on seeing how Alyx plays into that lineage - even if I figure runner Buffet Time probably won't take a detour into Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II.
Sadly, there's no Titanfall 2 run happening this year, which is usually my highlight of the show. But I'm pleasantly surprised to see haunting pac-puzzler Eat Girl show up on the Wednesday. Thursday seems to have cruelly placed the wonderful Hynospace Outlaw between Saint Hazel's Horsepital and Pringles: The Video Game, two titles I'm convinced must've been made up by our man Nate Crowley in that fictional games book of his.
There's a whole week's worth of runs to pore through over on the the full schedule here, and I reckon you'll probably find something that's up your alley. Summer Games Done Quick 2020 Online sets off on Sunday, August 16th at 4:30pm BST, with the first run - Demon's Souls - starting the speedy festivities half an hour later.