On it, speedruns are grouped into categories. The most popular place to upload speedruns is the online leaderboard, a mammoth library that at the time of writing is contributed to by 891,452 people. And then, having understood it perfectly, they break it over their knee.” They appreciate all the work that went into the design.

“The speedrunner takes that sculpture and they look it over, carefully, from top to bottom, from every angle, and deeply understand it. Making sure it works when its viewed from any angle. Then gradually rounding off any rough edges. “First, chiselling it out of a raw block. “A game designer painstakingly carves a beautiful sculpture out of wood,” he said. As he watched, he began to reflect on the relationship between speedrunner and game designer, noting that in many ways, they existed as polar opposites. In it, you play as a nude greek man sitting in a metal cauldron, who moves about by swinging a large hammer. One day, game designer Bennett Foddy was streaming himself on Twitch as he watched a speedrun of his game, Getting Over It With Bennet Foddy.

Now I was being introduced to an entirely different way of gaming, where video games ceased being things to play, and instead became structures that could be torn down and rebuilt on a whim, all in the name of speed. Though I knew of its existence, I had never even shown a scrap of interest in speedrunning before. Watching his account of the events at Choco Mountain for the first time felt like stepping into a new world.

Perfect dark speed run