Baldur's Gate 3 new speedrun beats the game in a record 10 minutes

Boasting dozens of hours of content, to say that Baldur's Gate 3 is an ambitious RPG would be a massive understatement. Yet someone has made the impossible possible by speedrunning the game in a little over 10 minutes, setting a new world record. This was achieved by YouTuber Mae by using an Origin character, the Wizard Gale.

This was done largely by skipping across portions of all three Acts. Here are the minute details while avoiding spoilers.

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How was the world record speedrun for Baldur's Gate 3 achieved in 10 minutes?

Note that even though the speedrunner skips a lot of stuff, players will still encounter what's to come in Act 2 and beyond in the video, so viewers beware. The key here was utilizing Gale's Enhanced Jump spell, which triples his jumping distance.

Since this spell's effectiveness is determined by the Strength stat, it was raised to 17, allowing the wizard to quite literally bounce over encounters and set pieces. This was further enhanced by using Misty Step, one of the most powerful movement spells in the game. This allows the user to teleport to a visible target location.

That said, Gale is not alone on the journey. The Cleric Shadowheart also joins him, and her Sanctuary spell is paramount in avoiding undead enemies in Act. Coupled with the teleportation spell, the duo makes it to the finale of Act 2. Now, this is where things truly get interesting. The speedrunner is able to skip Act 3 by ending the game in Act 2 itself.

It has to do with Gale and his role in the overarching narrative. Without posting major spoilers, know that Gale manages to deal with the problem early, ending the game earlier than it would otherwise be possible. At 10 minutes and 3 seconds, it is nothing short of surprising how much effort must have gone into planning out a route to beat the game this way.

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When was Baldur's Gate 3 released, and on which platforms?

Baldur's Gate 3 was recently launched for PCs on August 3, 2023. For a brief period before that, the game was in early access since 2020. In other words, Larian Studios introduced the ambitious RPG to the public to receive community feedback. Spanning a total of six years in the works, the game has seen a lengthy development cycle.

The final game is now available for PC via the Steam and GOG platforms. Coupled with the brief early access period, it is perhaps not surprising that players have managed to map out a course for speedrunning. In fact, the past record before this was at 10 minutes 52 seconds. We may find more new ways of speedrunning as more players become familiar with the massive RPG.

As for the future, the game is scheduled to have a PS5 release as well. PlayStation fans can get their hands on Baldur's Gate 3 on September 6, 2023, so they will only need to wait for a few more weeks now.