It’s the primary week of July, a liminal interval between the not-E3 advertising and marketing machine festivities and a surprisingly stacked summer season launch schedule. As Individuals put together to have a good time one other superb Independence Day within the wake of unhinged Supreme Courtroom choices and a sunsetting president, I can’t think about a greater time to sit down again, pop open a chilly one, and blast your eyeballs with dozens of hours of top-tier speedruns.
Summer time Video games Finished Fast is again with a weeklong competition by which speedrunning consultants showcase their favourite video games and the high-level strats, secret shortcuts, and absurd glitches they exploit to beat them as rapidly as potential. The occasion kicked off on Sunday and runs by way of Saturday, July 6 with around-the-clock streams of every part from current blockbusters and indie darlings to retro classics and forgotten gems. And the entire occasion raises cash for Docs With out Borders which offers medical help to these in want all around the world, together with victims of Israel’s conflict in Gaza.
The total schedule of speedruns is on the market on the group’s web site, however there’s a ton of stuff that’s already occurred and is price trying out by way of VODs uploaded to the SGDQ Twitch and YouTube channels (they’re quite a bit higher at instantly getting runs uploaded than they’ve been in years previous). There’s additionally a extremely helpful rundown of each stream to this point and its corresponding VOD hyperlink on the Speedrunning subreddit.
Highlights to this point embrace ShovelClaws’ playthrough of Pepper Grinder, a wonderful 2024 recreation stuffed with rad mechanics and mesmerizing gameplay, Carrarium’s mastery of customized Celeste maps, together with Kaizo-inspired ranges, Stelmo98’s run of Sonic P-06, an unofficial remake of 2006’s Sonic The Hedgehog, Cixah’s domination of poker roguelite Balatro, and monkeysmb’s tour by way of the dread-filled pixel journey Metroid Fusion.
Different all-time nice video games have additionally been featured, like Halo 2, Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, and Silent Hill. However whereas it’s all the time nice to observe a savant stroll you thru a traditional, a few of my favourite moments from any SGDQ are those meant purely to entertain, convey folks collectively, and showcase the personalities of the individuals, like folks wobbling alongside to the Cloudjin in Yoshi’s Story or performing the Herald of Darkness dance quantity from Alan Wake 2.
What’s arising the remainder of the week? I don’t even know the place to start out. There’s an influence block on Wednesday of Mirror’s Edge into PowerWash Simulator, with Kaizo Mario Galaxy later that day. The 4th of July will function Celeste 64, Halo 3, and Sekiro. I’m additionally actually trying ahead to Animal Effectively on Friday, an unimaginable new Metroidvania bursting with puzzles and secrets and techniques that’s one in every of my favourite video games of the yr to this point. Issues exit with a bang on Saturday with Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ring, and a ton of Mario.
No matter you’ve received happening the remainder of the week, carve out a couple of minutes right here or there to bask within the unimaginable vibes of SGDQ. I imply it after I say it’s going to restore your religion in gaming and perhaps even humanity, a minimum of just a little bit.
