In a gaming universe where long, immersive RPGs demand dozens, if not hundreds, of hours from their players, it seems almost heretical to learn someone has completed Baldur’s Gate 3 in barely over ten minutes. That’s right, a game where Larian Studios anticipates an average player would spend around 75 hours and could stretch to a whopping 200 hours for the true completionists, has been “completed” in the time it takes to make a cup of coffee.
The remarkable speedrunner behind this feat goes by the name Mae, but it comes with a caveat – it’s not the traditional ending to Baldur’s Gate 3. Instead, it’s a specific, alternative route involving a “failed” ending, long before the game’s true finale. In short, this speedrun thrives on technicalities.
For those unfamiliar with Baldur’s Gate 3’s vast lore, this involves a character named Gale, an individual whose backstory involves a, let’s just say, “volatile condition.” Without delving too much into spoiler territory, we can say that Gale is a ticking time bomb who, in the beginning of Act 2, can choose to end the game prematurely by taking out both the heroes and villains in one cataclysmic explosion.
What makes this route so intriguing for speedrunners like Mae is that it provides a finish line way before the expected conclusion. However, reaching this point still takes a decent chunk of time for average players. Mae’s ingenious strategy involves capitalizing on Gale’s abilities, namely his powerful jump skill and the Misty Step ability, to bypass major parts of the game.
Leveraging these, along with a handful of glitches and choice dialogues, Mae hurtles Gale towards this grim finale with an impressive urgency.
The visuals are a sight to behold: Gale, often stripped bare (which, by the way, is more of an entertaining sideline rather than a speedrun strategy), launching himself across vast landscapes, bypassing bewildered foes, and sequence-breaking his way to the climactic decision in Act 2. It’s a whirlwind journey where our protagonist quite literally makes a massive narrative jump, culminating in a dramatic detonation. As Mae so eloquently summarized: “Gale never skips leg day, jumps really fast, and then detonates a nuclear bomb.”
The method seems almost comically outlandish when you consider the enormity of the world. Larian Studios, prior to the game’s release, boasted over 17,000 ending variations. There’s irony in the fact that amidst all these variations, it’s the early, bleak ending that has captured the attention of the speedrunning community.
This phenomenon underscores the quirky allure of speedrunning. Traditional gamers might shake their heads, pointing out the sheer volume of content Mae has bypassed. After all, the goblin camps, the intricacies of the Underdark and the layers of side quests, and companion stories are all left untouched. And yet, Mae’s achievement, clocking in at 10:03, is mesmerizing in its audacity. It’s a reminder that games, as structured as they might seem, can be reimagined, reinterpreted, and reinvented by players.
Though the record set by Mae is jaw-dropping, the bustling Baldur’s Gate 3 community, which recently hit a peak of a whopping 875,343 concurrent players, suggests that this record might soon be toppled. Perhaps even by Mae. After all, with so many players exploring every nook and cranny of the game, newer strategies are bound to emerge.
Amidst all these explosive exploits, it’s heartwarming to learn from Larian that players have taken their sweet time and pet Scratch, a lovable in-game creature, over 750,000 times. It’s a gentle reminder that amidst the rapid runs and record-breaking attempts, there’s always time for a touch of tenderness.
