Just a month after Elden Ring's release, speedrunners are already racing to beat the game in the fastest time possible. One speedrunner, YouTuber Hazeblade, achieved Elden Ring's first sub-25 minutes speedrun.

You wouldn’t necessarily think an open-world game would have a dedicated community of speedrunners, but Elden Ring’s unique environment has inspired many to race for the fastest time. The high difficulty, menacing bosses, and dangerous lands pose an interesting challenge - one of both speed and skill.

Now, just about a month since the game launched, an Elden Ring speedrunner has beaten the notoriously difficult game in under 25 minutes. This marks a world record for the game, and taking advantage of a unique glitch called "The Zip."

HAZEBLADE'S SUB-25 MINUTES SPEEDRUN

" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Streamer and YouTuber Hazeblade is an experienced speedrunner, taking on challenges for Elden Ring, Back 4 Blood, and several Resident Evil games. Here, he takes on an Any% speedrun, striving to beat the game in under 25 minutes.

An Any% Speedrun refers to a run where a player reaches the game's end with any percent of completion. Usually, this means only hitting the major story points or bosses required to progress in the game. Of course, a true full-length playthrough of Elden Ring would be much, much longer, even for a player with a speedrunner's abilities.

Following a series of other Any% speedruns, Hazeblade begins the playthrough that will ultimately land him a 24:37 time. He follows a route dubbed the "Icerind route;" here, speedrunners first aim to get the Icerind hatchet. Its weapon-art, the Hoarfrost Stomp, is incredibly powerful and instrumental in fighting any enemies.

What makes this particular speedrun successful is the usage of a glitch called "The Zip." Though this specific glitch appears to be highly dependent on the player's hardware and some internal background calculations Elden Ring makes, "The Zip" allows players to zip across the map. These wrong warps result in massive jumps, essentially allowing the player to skip portions of the game. In effect, Hazeblade was able to shave several minutes off his previous record - a significant amount for a speedrun. Watch Hazeblade's full run below:

Additionally, Hazeblade provides commentary on the status of the glitch and its dependence on player hardware. It's an interesting look at the philosophy of speedrunning and its inclusivity, coupled with impressive gameplay. Aside from posting on YouTube, Hazeblade also streams his speedruns on Twitch.

KOGARRASHI'S NG+ 43 Any% ELDEN RING RUN

Just shortly before Hazeblade's Any% speedrun, another YouTuber also landed a significant Elden Ring speedrunning accomplishment. YouTuber Kogarrashi hit his own sub-25 minutes speedrun, this time in a different category.

Kogarrashi ran an NG+ 43 Any% speedrun, meaning he started the speedrun using an existing save file ("NG+" = "New Game + additional playthrough). Though he also had to reach the game's end at any percent of completion, his existing save file gives him a greater advantage. This lets him use any previously unlocked routes, items, or abilities, and as a result, he managed an impressive time of 23:06. You can also watch Kogarrashi's NG+43 speedrun below:

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