Update 03/14/22: Elden Ring has now been completed in six minutes and 59 seconds.
Distortion2 continues to dominate the speedrunning community by cutting down his own records over and over again.
He tweeted his latest time earlier today, saying that while there's still room for improvement, he's "done with this for now".
WORLDS FIRST SUB 7 MINUTES IN ELDEN RING. This category has been quite the ride. Still some room for improvement but I am done with this for now :) pic.twitter.com/0EBda2gnSn
— Distortion2 🕐 Elden Ring (@Distortion_2) April 12, 2022
Original Story: An Elden Ring speedrunner has now beaten the game in less than nine minutes.
YouTube user Distortion2 has cut his time down to just 8 minutes and 56 seconds, primarily using the Zip glitch – which essentially allows players to teleport across different parts of the map.
Combined with other exploits that allow most of the game to be skipped, Distortion2 has shaved minutes from his time day after day since setting the first under-30 minute speedrun a month ago.
Several different speedrun styles already exist such as runs without taking damage, runs without dealing damage, and more complete playthroughs in which players beat all of Elden Ring's major bosses.
Like Dark Souls and Bloodborne, players will likely find new ways to play and exploit Elden Ring for years to come, resulting in even more ridiculous speedruns down the line.
Just last week players discovered a way to make the infamous boss Starscourge Radahn defeat himself, for example, luring him to the water's edge so that he splashes in and dies.
Elden Ring's other bizarre secrets discovered so far include a pair of fancy underwear hidden away in the game files and a hidden wall that only opens after 50 hits.
In our 10/10 review, IGN said: "Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path."
To make those choices with the best available information, check out our full guide that features everything you could ever hope to know about Elden Ring, including collectible locations, boss strategies, and more.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.