Elden Ring Speedruns Are Already Ridiculously Fast

It's been over two and a half weeks since the critically acclaimed video game "Elden Ring" launched to the intrigue (and frustration) of millions of gamers worldwide. Since its commercial release on February 25, "Elden Ring" fans have rushed onto social media to discuss its sharp learning curve, which is notably higher than in many other popular games like "Horizon Forbidden West". These conversations tend to arise due to developer FromSoftware's sometimes quizzical game design, such as its lack of a clear pause button.

In spite of all that extra difficulty presented to "Elden Ring" players, there's already a subcategory of gamers that is determined to break it all down to a science. In fact, popular speedrunner Distortion2 has already proved that it's possible to beat "Elden Ring" in the span of 30 minutes.

Distortion2 shared an infographic containing his exact milestones on Twitter in the early morning hours of March 14, stating, "Elden Ring goes under 30 minutes. What a crazy day!". His exact timing was 28 minutes and 59 seconds, skirting the common assumption that video games like "Elden Ring" require hundreds of hours to complete.

It's worth noting that the speedrun.com leaderboards for "Elden Ring" aren't live yet, and won't go live until March 18. Speedrun.com is where the speedrun times for many games are tracked and archived, so we may see a ton of speedrunners join and push the time down even further when those leaderboards are available.

Distortion2 certainly isn't likely to be the last speedrunner to break the 28 minute and 59-second record, but whoever sets the next milestone will have some deep shoes to fill. Speedrunning is also unlikely to be the best way to play "Elden Ring," which has largely been called a critical success due to the size and scope of its world, which many have lauded as richly detailed and riddled with secrets.

"Elden Ring" features a plethora of challenging dungeons and boss fights, which may also stump the average gamer – especially those who do not already have any proper experience speedrunning games like "Dark Souls." This means that, for most people, it might be best to kick back, explore "Elden Ring" at your own pace, and leave all the speedrunning business to the pros.