As Elden Ring speedruns get faster, cheat-assisted clears are starting to crop up

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There's any% and then there's nothing%

Elden Ring
(Image credit: FromSoftware)

Elden Ring any% speedruns are approaching the limits of the community's current methods, but some players have thought up some innovative ways to drop the time even lower – like straight-up using cheat engines.

Over the weekend, speedrunner SeekerTV set a new unrestricted any% record for Elden Ring: a scorching 6:46, a full 13 seconds faster than the first sub-seven minute clear recently achieved by Distortion 2. SeekerTV's record-breaking run polishes the well-worn "zip" method which uses carefully overlapped animations to launch players long distances, forcibly spawning and killing bosses without any actual combat. While there's still room for improvement within this method, it seems doubtful we'll see more dramatic time reductions until new glitches are found.

You can check out legit Elden Ring records on Speedrun.com, which currently separates runs into four official categories: any%, any% unrestricted, any% no wrong warp (a reference to a specific route), and routes for nabbing all the boss remembrances. 

If you're going to break the rules and camera, at least turn Elden Ring into an oddly adorable isometric game.  

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.