An Elden Ring speedrunner has beaten the game in only 12 minutes 32 seconds and defeated only one boss.
Elden Ring’s speedrunners have slowly whittled down the time it takes to clear the massive game, and many different categories have been created to allow for different styles of run. The any per cent unrestricted category has recently seen Mitchriz take the top spot with the world’s first sub-13-minute run. (as reported by PCGamer)
The run makes extensive use of a zip glitch, which allows Mitchriz to leap across Elden Ring’s map and skip all but one of the game’s boss fights. Eventually, Mitchriz reached the final fight of the game, which he also skips.
The zip glitch requires players to carefully align their character and perform a blocking animation, sending the player across the map so quickly that the game struggles to catch up. While the time of 12 minutes 32 is impressive, Mitchriz believes that it could get much shorter as more glitch locations are discovered.
Mitchriz is a well known FromSoftware speedrunner, having recently completed Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice while blindfolded during Awesome Games Done Quick. He accomplished this by carefully memorising movement orders and using audio queues in the environment to help manoeuvre the character.
Many of the boss fights in the game were tackled using sound cues and stun locks to quickly dispatch them. The run currently ends at the game’s mid-point by choosing the Shura ending, which removed several boss fights from the game. The main obstacle to completing the full game is the underwater section, which lacks sound queues and required three degrees of precise movement.
