Awesome Games Done Quick time is coming round again, one of the pair of annual massive speedrun marathons that last a week and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity with challenges, impressive feats and even the odd world record. The AGDQ schedule lets you know when you want to be awake to see your favourite games played quickly, expertly and with explanation.
Hopefully some of these upcoming PC games will feature in future GDQs.
You can view the full schedule and details about the event on the official site. However, here’s what I would make sure to tune in for:
- Ori and The Blind Forest- Monday 4th – I haven’t seen a run of this before, but the game is almost custom designed for speedrunning considering the amount it takes from classic platforming games. AGDQ has so much demand for good runs now that boring ones simply don’t get through, so unless it’s a particularly entertaining single-glitch run, it should be very good.
- Cloudbuilt– Tuesday 5th – Nevermind “almost,” Cloudbuilt is a game about speedrunning. I’ve never managed to finish it due to a stunning level of difficulty, but it’s lightning quick even in a normal playthrough. Seeing exactly how this one breaks I’m personally excited for.
- Half-life 2 – Tuesday 5th – A classic of speedrunning, second only to its own prequel in terms of entertainment value. Source is just broken enough as an engine to let you do really entertaining things while still just about following the game’s recognisable path and script. Just about.
- TheLegend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time– Friday 8th – Not a PC game, but another total classic. One of the most entertainingly broken games ever. This two hour All Dungeons route shows more of the game than the 20 minute any% ones.
There’sloads more and I’d recommend tuning into any game you remember being difficult, or any of your favourites. It’s always interesting to discover just where the holes in their code were, and what a true master of the game can make it do.
If you’ve never gotten into speedrunning before, here’s one of the best runs from this year’s Summer Games Done Quick, the mid-year version of the marathon. It’s a 151 caught run of the original Pokémon Blue. It’s, well, broken.
Over the years the event has gotten more professional and lost some of its community feel, which is a shame, but helps to keep the event growing and making more money. I did prefer when it had the air of a bunch of mates gathered in a house playing some old games, and I’m hoping the balance is pushed a bit back towards that rather than the super-e-sports SGDQ we got this year. Either way, it’s still a highly entertaining event, and a regular glimpse into an area of gaming that takes as much skill and training as the million dollar tournaments.