Summer Games Done Quick 2022 is the first physical Games Done Quick event since the pandemic in 2020. As such, it’s one speedrunners and fans of the annual event alike have been looking forward to. This guide highlights 10 of the best speedruns at Summer Games Done Quick 2022, so you can get into speedrunning and see some of the best runs on the planet.
Related: Awesome Games Done Quick 2020 Raises Record-Breaking $3.1 for Prevent Cancer Foundation
What are the 10 best speedruns from Summer Games Done Quick 2022?
This list showcases the 10 best speedruns from Summer Games Done Quick 2022 that will help you get into speedrunning and watching speedruns with your friends. We’ve been through the schedule and have selected the 10 most interesting speedruns, ones that will hook you and keep you watching from start to finish as the runners explain their strategies in a way that makes you feel as though you could compete alongside them.
Related: How to watch Summer Games Done Quick 2022
1. Shadow of the Colossus
This is a nice easy speedrun to get you into the event. Shadow of the Colossus is a good game to watch anyone run because it’s easy to learn about mechanical manipulation and skips through, as shown in the first boss in this exact run. We recommend starting with this speedrun because it took place at the beginning of Summer Games Done Quick 2022, meaning there’s much more to dig into if you enjoy it.
2. Sonic Generations (Nintendo 3DS)
A 3DS game might not seem like the most accessible title to watch get broken apart by a speedrunner, but we think it is. This run is another good one to begin with because it shows how runners use shortcuts and game mechanics to create the most optimized route possible. In a way, it’s more like watching an incredibly fast Let’s Play than it is a speedrun.
3. Phasmophobia
Multiplayer horror games may not sound like games you can even speedrun, but this run proves it’s possible. All horror games make for fun speedruns, but Phasmophobia is something completely different and much easier to get into because it’s far less terrifying than a single player horror experience. Games like this haven’t really featured in Summer Games Done Quick before, which is why we think that it’s worth watching if you want to get into the event.
4. Silent Hill 4: The Room
As we mentioned above, all horror games have great speedruns, but Silent Hill is a series that fits Summer Games Done Quick well. This is because the PC ports of most Silent Hill games aren’t optimized and therefore have a lot of exploits for runners to take advantage of. In this particular run, you’ll see the runner do a lot of manipulation through timed button pressing, camera turning, and character placement that simply makes no sense. However, it’s one of the most gripping runs you’ll ever see.
5. Pokémon Emerald Randomizer
Pokémon games are always interesting to watch at Summer Games Done Quick, but adding in the randomizer element makes each run feel fresh and addictive to watch. Not only are there good old game exploits on show, but the randomized nature of the title itself makes for an unpredictable run that the runners have to cope with no matter what. Improvised speedruns may not seem possible, but this game proves they have to be.
6. Minecraft Java Edition
Some people don’t realize that there’s an end to Minecraft. Luckily, this speedrun allows you to witness it pretty fast, so you never need to put in the hundreds of hours required to achieve it in a standard playthrough. No gaming event is complete without Minecraft in some shape or form, so this run is more like a rite of passage if you’re edging into the hobby.
7. Monster Hunter Rise
The Monster Hunter series is renowned for trapping players into a grind where they must kill monsters repeatedly to craft the best gear. This is all so they can kill even bigger monsters and stick massive horns on their armor before calling it a day. Watching someone split these games apart like players do the monsters in them is fascinating because it condenses a 40-hour experience into under 60 minutes.
8. Final Fantasy X
While 100+ hour epics such as any Final Fantasy entry might not seem like a good fit for speedruns, that’s exactly why they work. Runners break these games so much that they can finish them in almost no time at all. These runs are among the best to watch because you get to see out of bounds tricks and skips that allow you to miss out on massive portions of the story. These runs are also fantastic for runners getting into situations where they may need to restart after three hours because of a single enemy or RNG.
9. Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy requires skill at the most basic level, so you can imagine how good a speedrunner needs to be to get through the game at an unreasonable pace. Every run of Super Meat Boy is worth watching just to see how much the community has broken it for the sake of getting through it slightly faster. If you’re lucky, you may even get to see a run with no deaths or blood.
10. Elden Ring
Despite it only being a few months old, Elden Ring has already been broken so many times that some runners have finished it in under an hour. All FromSoftware games make for great speedruns, but Elden Ring is easily the biggest. The game has a set number of bosses that players must kill, but speedrunners only care about beating the final boss, and the journey they go on is packed with skips that twist the game’s mechanics in ways that no one could ever have predicted while developing it. This is the crown jewel of all speedruns from Summer Games Done Quick 2022, which is why you should save it for the very end, watching every other run that intrigues you first before having this as your well-earned dessert.
