For a lot of gamers, Elden Ring provides an opportunity to dive into a visually stunning fantasy world that can also be a bit punishing. For others, Hidetaka Miyazaki’s applauded masterpiece is slowly but surely turning into the perfect tool for self-inflicted torture.
In fact, if you thought that beating the game in 34 minutes was a remarkable achievement, just wait until you see how Distortion2 — the man, myth, legend himself — bests himself again by doing it in less than 20 minutes.
As you can see for yourself above, the infamous speedrunner who had already beaten Elden Ring‘s record numerous times is back to dethrone his rival Hazeblade, who recently did it in under 25 minutes, and he has completely trumped him — completing the game in 18 minutes and 57 seconds.
The speedrun is dubbed ‘Any%’ which means that the player will attempt to reach the finish line by any means necessary. That includes a variety of tricks, including in-game glitches like the “zip glitch,” which help him skip through several areas and become the Elden Lord in the time it takes most of us to customize our character at the beginning of the game.
In spite of all these neat tricks, the fact that Distortion2 manages to get everything right and defeat two aggressive bosses before reaching the Elden Beast, and then defeating it too, is exhilarating and panic-inducing to watch. You can only imagine what it must have felt like for him to go through it, never mind all the hours of practice run he’s put into the grind set just to make this speedrun viable.
Now, let’s see who’ll have the nerve or the fortitude to challenge the 19 minute speedrun in the the coming weeks.