Summer Games Done Quick 2018 is officially over. The annual charity speedrunning marathon raised over $2 million for Doctor's Without Borders and featured over 168 hours of speedruns. If you weren't able to tune in, it's a full week of mind-blowing glitches and intense head to head races. But with the stream running 24 hours a day, it's almost impossible to see everything.
That's why we've rounded up our favorite PC speedruns from Summer Games Done Quick 2018. It's a relatively new roster compared to last year's selection, featuring indie hits like Cuphead and Celeste. But all of these runs are remarkable in their own way.
This run is an example of a Games Done Quick speedrun at its absolute finest: An incredibly tough game, an extremely skilled player, and a great cast of couch commentators. 'TheMexicanRunner' keeps his cool throughout each of Cuphead's insanely tough boss battles, but I particularly love the silly voices he uses while reading dialogue. His supporting cast of couch commentators are just as fun to listen to because of their impressive knowledge of the game. Not only do they explain techniques during each phase of the run, but they're bursting with cool trivia about Cuphead's development, artstyle, and more. It's just a great all-around run.
SGDQ 2018 was dominated by tough-as-nails indie platformers, but this Celeste head-to-head race is a remarkable display of videogame mastery by its two runners. It's not much of a competition, as runner TGH clearly has the upperhand, but watching both navigate Celeste's intimidating gauntlet of trap-filled levels is exhilarating. Some of the jumps each runner makes has to be pixel perfect, which isn't an easy feat when you're already blitzing through levels at this pace. It's indicative of the high level of skill that Celeste demands that even nailing some of these jumps is impressive on the second and third attempt.
At every Games Done Quick event, there's always one run where everything just goes to hell despite the runner's best attempts. And this year, there is no one who failed more spectacularly than Teddyras—though it's not his fault. The RNG gods of Enter the Gungeon had an axe to grind with Teddyras, as evidenced by the mountain of bad luck that plagued him all the way from the very start. Sure, he makes a few mistakes here and there, but not once does Teddyras get a good weapon drop that is so crucial to surviving the Gungeon's harder floors. Keep in mind that, unlike most games, dying in Enter the Gungeon means having to start over from the very beginning. When it finally happens just shy of the final boss, it's heartbreaking. Fortunately Teddyras gets another shot, and things go much better the second time around.
But Steven, you say, didn't you just recommend a Celeste speedrun? Yes, I did. But you know what's better than watching two humans try to beat Celeste? Watching a friggin robot beat Celeste. That's what TASBot is, a tool-assisted speedrun where each button input is meticulously scripted beforehand and then executed in real-time. Of course, no human can ever match the precision of a robot, but that's what makes TAS special. With Celeste's breakneck pace and complicated level design, TASBot is able to blaze through each zone with remarkable speed. It took DevilSquirrel months to program TASBot to be able to run each level, finding the optimal path to create the ideal, superhuman speedrun.
I love this run for a lot of reasons, not least of which being that Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel doesn't feel like a remarkable game to watch a speedrun of. Gearbox's loot-shooter isn't exactly what comes to mind when I think of great speedrun games, but Amyrlinn and Shockwve's commentary is just so damn funny. Throughout the length of the Pre-Sequel, both runners abuse a ton of glitches like duping items and clipping through walls, but it's made all the more enjoyable by their irreverent digs at Borderlands' world and fun back-and-forth quips.
If you're not a fan of the bombastic commentary that often accompanies Games Done Quick runs, this Tomb Raider run is for you. Beckski93 executes many of Tomb Raider's complicated glitches effortlessly, but I really enjoy her laidback commentary, which is a nice contrast to the sometimes abrasive energy of other runners. There's also just a lot of fun glitches to watch, like one named after the game QWOP because of the way it breaks Lara's running animation to help her glitch through surfaces.
Maxylobes run of 2005's FEAR is great because it's always fun to see such scary games disarmed by speedrunners. FEAR terrified me the first time I played it, but watching Maxy rush through levels with no regard for the tense atmosphere or jumpscares is just so silly. He also kills entire squads of soldiers by rushing and punching each one in the head systematically, which is ridiculous for its own reasons. I wish I had realized how strong punching was when I first played.
Bit nippy in here, isn t it? Let s throw another game on the fire and warm ourselves with some electro-soup. Yes, it s the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, and this week we re talking about freezing cold city-builder Frostpunk. Katharine lost a third of her people to cold when she forgot to turn the heat on, while Brendan dug up his society s dead because he “needed the space”. Matt is horrified by these tales, but soon proves he s just as horrible when he completes our Frostpunk-themed ethical dilemma quiz. (more…)
The awards ceremony at this year s GDC was fun. At least, that s what John told me from his seat in the crowd, where he saw the winners mount a stage some would consider too colourful for this planet. The Independent Games Festival Awards and subsequent Game Developer s Choice Awards saw a range of trophy-grabbers, from indie students to adventure game veterans. Unfortunately for them, I was hiding backstage, skulking behind a black curtain and holding a voice recorder like a cudgel. I had one question to ask them all: If they had to give their award away, who would get it?
It s like re-gifting, except you worked really hard for the gift and now you have to hand it over three minutes after your acceptance speech. Life is pain.
This is The Mechanic, where Alex Wiltshire invites developers to discuss the difficult journeys they underwent to make the best bits of their games. This time, mountain-climbing platformer Celeste and the importance of timing in its movements and kindness in its code.
Early last month, the makers of Celeste released the source code behind the game s star, Madeline. Across 5472 lines and in variables like JumpGraceTime, DashHJumpThruNudge and DuckFriction, the code precisely defines her ability to run, climb, jump and dash, bringing her to life in your hands.
If you re not a programmer, it s difficult to figure out what the code really means, so I asked Noel Berry to explain how it coalesces into a character who feels so good to control. Focusing on her dash, the mechanic around which Celeste revolves, it turns out that a lot of it s down to the game making her do what you expected her to do, and not necessarily what you actually did. (more…)
Rad trash mammal simulator Night In The Woods scooped this year’s Grand Prize during the 2018 Independent Games Festival Awards at the Game Developers Conference last night, also lifting the award for Excellence In Narrative. Baba Is You, an upcoming puzzle game about shifting words to change how parts of the levels and game work, also picked up two awards. Looking across all the winners, ah yes, there certainly are good video games going around. (more…)
The makers of Celeste have shared a big slab of the platformer’s code, letting everyone dig down into the intricacies of its movement. “Maybe it’ll interest you if you’re curious how some part of that works!” game director Matt Thorson said. Given how secretive the games industry can be, it’s nice to see a game with such great-feeling movement spill its guts for all to inspect. (more…)
From a publisher as huge as Ubisoft, and in a series as chart-dominating as Assassin s Creed’s Discovery Tour represents an unusual and welcome ambition. The mode, available as free DLC for Assassin s Creed Origins or as a standalone game, strips out all the combat, levelling-up and collectibles in favour of a promised educational experience. It takes the strongest facet of Origins its detailed and enormous depiction of Ancient Egypt and adapts it into something almost entirely new.
Ubisoft isn t alone in remixing its games in this way, however. The Discovery mode for Origins follows in the squelchy footsteps of Frictional s Soma, which added a Safe Mode last December that removes any mechanical threat from its monsters. Traditionally, the concept of games has been closely tied with that of challenge , but these modes sidestep that. And in doing so, they remove a barrier to entry for less experienced players who want to explore their worlds. Even if the execution doesn’t necessarily match the idea, this is a good thing.
Celeste is a clear contender for best platformer of the year, and it'll probably end up being one of the most competitive speedrunning titles, too. While regular players will spend upwards of half-an-hour trying to master a single clear path through any given level, there's a lot more freedom for expression than is immediately obvious – perfect fodder for speedrunning.
Plenty of speedrunners are vying for first place at the moment – you can see the speedrun.com leaderboard here – but it still feels like the scene is in its infancy. The best run so far, by Magolor9000, manages an Any% run in 47 minutes and 33 seconds. You can see the run below, and while it's super impressive, there's clear room for improvement.
Given that the game's only been out a matter of days, one of the biggest challenges for early speedrunners is remembering the layout of some of the trickier levels – plenty needs to be memorised in the latter half of the game. As Magolor9000 points out on his YouTube page, this run is far from perfect in the opening minutes, but manages quite well in the second half.
Anyway, as someone who spent around 10 hours and upwards of 3000 deaths completing Celeste, this is clearly a feat. This record is likely to change as the days go by, but for now, it's a neat look at how especially adept players are tackling the game.
