Summer Games Done Good
Another year, another huge amount raised for charity by obscenely skilled gamers. Popular speedrunning event Summer Games Done Quick took place last week andraised more than $2.5 millionfor Doctors Without Borders, fielding runners who took on a mix of modern and retro games with various quirky goals or challenging requirements. Like an attempt at getting throughSekiro: Shadows Die Twicewithout being hit (oh god) and a hasty anti-gravitational swim through the solar system ofOuter Wildsbut without using the game’s spaceship (what). Let us be glad these folks use their powers for good.
The event saw seven days of speedrunning withlots of games covered. A glitchlessElden Ringspeedrun saw the moment the charity stream broke the $2 million mark, with even speedrunner “Blanxz” brieflypausing to cheer in-game. But not before a previous From Software game took the stage. A 37-minute speedrun of Sekiro included a comedy aside when the run wasinterrupted by sticky keys. Runner “Mitchriz” had to contain his own laughter while pausing to disable the annoying sound effect. The intended goal of a completely hitless run in theSengoku-era slicer didn’t pan out, but never mind, we got our giggles.
Meanwhile, a speedrun of Outer Wilds was done without a ship, which involved runner “PTMinsker"firing himself into spaceusing the scout probe launcher for extra momentum, and then matching the orbit of the sun station - a solar research post in extremely low orbit. Absolutely bonkers behaviour. Well done.
There are a lot of other highlights from the various recent games, should youchoose to peruse. Includinga 14-minute sprint through Animal Wellthat saw lots of precise air bubble platforming and aBalatro playthroughwhich the commentators joked would be affected by “just a little bit of RNG.”
