It took someone a little over a week to speed up the Elden Ring. But the race for the best time had only just begun.
the first recorded speedrun clocked in just under two and a half hours. Two days later, the game was over within an hour. No sooner had she been registered than she was beaten. In April it was finished in less than ten minutes.
Speedrunning a game like Elden Ring, with its gloriously gloomy open world, never really appealed to me. I am an avid gamer. Rather than rushing, I like to savor every dark discovery, every horrible enemy. I set up my own rules, completing every area of the map before moving on; not to enter the sickly, pungent Caelid until every dusty nook and cranny of Raya Lucaria Academy has been explored.
That’s why my first playthrough took over 110 hours.
But Elden Ring has proven to inspire gamers throughout the year, with a whole host of creative and unique ways to play beyond speedrunning.
Take Let Me Solo Her, a community icon who single-handedly beat the game’s most infamous boss – Malenia – on behalf of players defeated a thousand times. While so many are struggling to rise to the challenge of FromSoftware’s games, one player has taken our collective frustration on their backs. Bandai publisher Namco itself gave them a sword for their service.
Other players have taken control to the next level. A streamer has completed the game using one hand, defeating all bosses without leveling up his character. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, she started all over again with a dance mat. And then she played with both hands and feet.
Another brave Tarnished made music while performing, posting a video of herself defeat Margit using a harp. It may not be melodically interesting, but the synergy of performer and instrument is an entirely new type of music.
Rudeism, known for its creative custom controllersdecided to play Elden Ring using a modified Fisher Price game controller it made silly sounds contrasting with the bloody action. Another big name modder, Super Louis 64, didn’t just play the game with a Ring Fit controller to sweat through The Lands Between, but played the game with a banana. How attractive.
FromSoftware’s games are notorious for their difficulty – indeed, Elden Ring has been rightly criticized for its lack of accessibility options – but opening up the world has opened up the game to so many more players and inspired so many new ways to play.
And what a spectacular world it is. Emerging from a catacomb at the start of the game, the hills unfold before you conceal a host of fiendish, yet often starkly beautiful, bosses to defeat. The first area completed, you gaze upon a midnight blue lake bathed in moonlight, with the Gothic spiers of the Academy of Magic appearing in the distance.
But the real wow moment for me was when I first fell down a well. It wasn’t just another catacomb. I stepped underground under an iridescent starry sky and realized the already massive map had a whole new layer to explore. I was looking forward to seeing more.
Isn’t all this the joy of an open-world game? Elden Ring is a dark fantasy sandbox and there’s room for everyone, no matter how you want to play: whether that’s meticulously defeating each boss or playing with a banana. FromSoftware’s Epic gives players the freedom to create their own rules – or break them entirely.
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