The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered is out, and speedrunner Bacon has already beaten it in just 12 minutes and 30 seconds thanks to an old glitch that's still in the game.
Spoilers ahead for Oblivion's main quest.
Still here? Grand. In Oblivion, you're tasked with finding the last surviving male heir of Emperor Uriel Septim. He's a priest called Martin, and he's played by none other than Sean Bean. As is often the case with the actor, he dies at the end, sacrificing himself to save Cyrodiil from Daedric Prince of Destruction Mehrunes Dagon.
Normally, to get to the end you have to complete the main quest and enter a specific tower in the Imperial City, but there's actually a door to it hidden just out of sight behind another door. If you reach it early, you skip straight to the final cutscene and get to the end of the game. Classic Bethesda.
An old method of reaching this location involved suspending paintbrushes in the air to form a ladder you could climb to the top of the tower, and then you simply drop to the bottom and enter the hidden door. As reported by PC Gamer, Bacon used a new strategy made possible by the Oblivion remaster being in Unreal Engine 5.
Bacon simply rushes through the sewer tutorial as quickly as possible and then fast-travels into the Imperial City before pulling off some physics shenanigans and skipping straight to the final scene in the game.
"I am using an Orc because of the Berserk greater power that has Fortify Fatigue," Bacon explains. "I cast it then use all my stamina and let the power run out while sitting on a chair making me ragdoll because my stamina is in the negatives, while ragdolling I go ham on the scroll wheel which places the camera way above your head and lets you clip your camera into walls. I use that to access the Temple of the One door doing the skip."
I'm glad he gave that description, because without it I'd have no idea what was going on. It's an impressive trick and doesn't look too difficult to pull off, so give it a go yourself if you want to beat the game without actually having to play it. One benefit is it'll close all those pesky Oblivion gates, so you can simply wander around Cyrodiil without worrying about them.
If you want to play it properly, check out our Oblivion main quest walkthrough.
In the meantime, check out all of the best RPGs you can play right now.
