Chicory: A Colorful tale devs struggled to cope with the game's AGDQ speedrun

Chicory: A Colorful Tale was recently played as part of AGDQ 2022 where it was completed in just 33 minutes - and the game’s community manager couldn’t believe their eyes. 

During the event, the official Chicory Twitter account was full of live reactions from Harris Foster, community manager at publisher Finji, who was impressed but also alarmed at just how fast speedrunner Punchy was able to make it through the game. The hilariously-named 'Chicory: A Tale Done Quick' Twitter account is flooded with Harris’ reactions, as well as fanart and memes from the speedrun. 

The community manager described fan reactions to their reactions as "extremely heartwarming." Chatting to GamesRadar+, Harris explained that: "The AGDQ 2022 run of Chicory: A Colorful Tale was the first time I had ever watched a Chicory speedrun from beginning to end" and clearly, they were not prepared for how quickly the game would be beaten. 

Some of the best reactions put out during the stream include the simple "wait slow down" tweet literally a minute after the speedrun began. Later on a tweet was directed specifically at Punchy, asking "you keep running to all the scary parts. Did you know there's a part where you can just calmly place furniture? Is that part of the run?" 

"When I saw that Punchy's estimated completion time of the run would be 35 minutes, I knew that was the perfect opportunity to take Chicory's already casual Twitter account and have it react in playful frustration," Harris explained to us. "Each tweet was a genuine reaction that came from watching Punchy's run in real-time. I actually had to hold myself back from tweeting every time he did something bonkers because I didn't want to flood folks' feeds with too many out-of-context reactions." 

Harris continues: "When it came to the Chicory Twitter account's reactions, I wanted to cover every base, from the shock and disbelief that comes from seeing a game-breaking strat for the first time to the proud appreciation that comes with knowing that having your game sped-run means that people truly love it." 

We also got the chance to speak to the director of Chicory: A Colorful Tale, Greg Lobanov who said: "When I first saw the game in the hands of runners, I was pretty blown away by what they could do, even with all our forethought." 

That isn't to say that watching speedrunners pick apart and exploit your game is easy for a developer though, as Lobanov explains: "When I watch runners play, whose whole purpose is to find and exploit those... it's anxiety-inducing [...] but when I put that aside, watching runners pull the game apart honestly gives me a warm and happy feeling." 

The director continues, "For someone to play the game that way means they are really learning to appreciate every detail of it and spending a lot of time learning all its deepest inner workings. That's a pretty high compliment. And I find the performance just amazing to watch every time."

If you didn’t get the chance to tune into the Chicory speedrun, here’s what you missed. Awesome Games Done Quick 2022 (aka AGDQ 2022) is an annual online speedrunning event that raises money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. This year, the stakes were even higher as the event was giving away a limited edition PS5 console which was painted by an artist who worked on Chicory: A Colorful Tale. 

Interested in this game now? Find out what all the fuss is about with: Have you tried… realizing you’re not so crap at art after all with Chicory: A Colorful Tale?