Skyrim speedrun without glitches finishes at 72 minutes

(Image credit: Bethesda)

Update: The world record for the Skyrim glitchless speedrun has just been broken again.

In a new video, speedrunner Jackson Reynolds shaved almost an entire minute off the record they set last week, finishing the main quest without using any glitches in just one hour, 11 minutes, and 21 seconds.

Reynolds had already noted that their previous attempt wasn't perfect and that one notable mistake had cost around 30 seconds. The most recent effort not only rectifies that error but also shaves an extra 15-20 seconds off elsewhere, further cementing Reynolds' hold on the title. You can check out the full hour-long run in its entirety in the video below.

Original story: A Skyrim speedrunner has beaten the game in 72 minutes without any glitches or shortcuts.

As first picked up on by TheGamer, Jackson Reynolds uploaded a brand new Skyrim speedrun video to his YouTube channel just yesterday, showing him fully completing the main storyline in a grand total of 72 minutes. This is currently the world record for beating Skyrim without any glitches or shortcuts, and actually chops two minutes off the previous record, which also belonged to Reynolds.

In the comments under the video, Reynolds explains the inner workings of the speedrun. For example, he's playing as a High Elf because speed is proportional to a character's height, and High Elves are the tallest characters in Skyrim. Additionally, Reynolds reveals that he drinks gallons of wine to boost his Stamina, but using the 'Wait' feature instead of stopping and letting the meter regenerate is actually quicker.

It turns out this speedrun could've been even quicker. Reynolds notes that he made some silly mistakes in the comments section, notably forgetting to grab the Solitude fast travel point, which lost him roughly 30 seconds in the overall run. The YouTuber is also working to beat his speedrun of Skyrim on Legendary difficulty without any glitches, but the video will be slightly delayed because he, erm, accidentally doxxed himself in it.

Skyrim just celebrated its 10th anniversary earlier this year in November, releasing the special Anniversary Edition with new Fishing content and more to mark the occasion. In fact, one developer at Bethesda even revealed to Gamesradar+ that the infamous 'arrow in the knee' quip was never supposed to be made into a meme at all.