Elden Ring speedruns have been consistently a source of wonder. Ever since From Software’s brutal RPG launched in February, devoted, masochistic players have been throwing themselves at the game again and again trying to lower their completion time as much as possible. And now there’s a new threshold, as for the first time ever, one speedrunner blinks through Elden Ring in less than five minutes.
SeekerTV, who also speedruns Deathloop, and streams Elden Ring on Twitch, posted the run to their YouTube channel, demonstrating how with the right combination of exploits, glitches, and lightning reflexes, one of the world’s hardest RPGs can be beat in the time it takes to boil an egg.
Competing in the any%, unrestricted category, which allows players to bug out and sequence break Elden Ring to their heart’s content, SeekerTV beats the previous record of five minutes, ten seconds maintained on the Speedrun leaderboards by American runner Hyp3rsomniac.
So how is it done? First of all, if ever Seeker needs to open a door, they quit out and reload the game, which skips the door opening animation, and saves a few precious seconds. That’s a minor time save. Much more important are the zip glitches, which launch you outside of Elden Ring’s level boundaries, and straight into areas that you’d otherwise not be able to reach until much later in the game.
The reason this works is because Elden Ring essentially contains a bug which means the block and walk animations kind of compete with, and attempt to override one another. Manipulated in a certain way, the game suddenly can’t decide where the player is supposed to be positioned, and then proceeds to flip out, launching them into the air like it’s having a tantrum. It’s highly specific – you have to hold block for between 129 and 135 frames, then walk for between ten or four frames – but Seeker nails it every time, allowing them to fly, warp, and glitch between Elden Ring’s dungeons as they please.
It’s an incredible achievement, and bound to inspire other speedrunners to try and push the time down even lower. Until then, congratulations Seeker.