D&D: Speedrunner Beats Baldur’s Gate 3 In Six Minutes
Baldur’s Gate III’s expansive early access content can be finished in 30ish hours… or six minutes. Watch as the Devs break down this speedrun.
Baldur’s Gate III is a return to form for expansive, party-driven cRPGs. Though it’s still in progress, you can see the the muscles forming around the masterfully planned out skeletal system that is the early access campaign. Over the course of the first act–which typically takes twenty to thirty hours you can find all sorts of adventure.
You’ll come into contact with factions in need of a hero. You’ll find goblins being led by a new, mysterious leader. You’ll explore haunted ruins, discover fiendish traps, and if you’re unlucky, end up kissing the foot of a goblin. And all the while, you’ll meet with new companions, each of whom shares a common bond with you–a mindflayer tadpole, slowly devouring the brain from the inside out.
Over the course of the first act, you’ll get a clue for what the Mind Flayers are up to in Faerun, and find all sorts of secrets–or, you can do what one enterprising player has done and hop through the whole game, Mario-style in under six minutes. About a month ago, the player going by Professor Palmer blazed through the whole first act of Baldur’s Gate 3, utilizing the unique movement offered by jumping to get through whole swaths of content in very little time.
Apparently all it takes is not skipping leg day and you can soar over all your problems. Which is why, IGN showed the record-setting footage to the game’s developers to see how they react. It’s worth watching to get their commentary, but also to take a gander at just what you can do with the freedom’s offered by the game.
“Even in Early Access, Baldur’s Gate 3 is an incredibly long game. So, of course, we were surprised to see that speedrunner Professor Palmer can finish the game in under six minutes. With a playthrough this quick, we knew we had to show Larian Studios what was possible in their game.”
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All it really takes is a bit of imagination, and the world opens up for you. It’s been a long while since bunny hopping was a thing in video games, but if ever there was a year that would bring it back, 2020 feels like it. Of course, Larian could always patch things so that you can’t just bunny hop your way through the game–but given how impressed they seem it doesn’t seem likely. For a game that will likely end up with 100+ hours of content and millions of lines of dialogue by the time all is said and done, it’ll be astounding if the record for getting through the game is under an hour.
Of course, you’ll miss out on all the cutscenes, interactions, and then some. But if you’re getting to the end, isn’t that all that matters? Or is the real Baldur’s Gate III the friends you made along the way?
What do you think of the speedrun? Let us know in the comments.
