Devs Watch P2 Speedrun!
Speedrunning is a very special type of gaming experience. It takes a great deal of curiosity and dedication to find the fastest routes through games and a ton of inspired thinking to discovered glitches and tricks. Folks often say "blahahagahghhaaa, speedrunners are playing the game wrong!" But that's not true; they're playing it differently and making an entirely new sort of game out of it. They still love the world and characters but they also love the programming and design; breaking it might seem an odd way of showing respect but it kinda is! You don't put this much effort into learning a game unless you love it.
Which is why we were delighted but also a little bit horrified to have the Psychonauts 2 Any% world record holder Edgar (ItzBytez on Twitch) show us how to clear the game in 1 hour and 34 minutes. The run was observed by myself, Tim, lead artist Geoff Soulis, lead designer Seth Marinello, gameplay programmer Juli Gregg, and lead programmer Kee Chi. We had a blast watching and you can check it out below:
Of course, fun is relative. I'm a speedrun fan and even used to do Breath of the Wild speedruns so this stuff is my bread and butter. I love it! Geoff chuckles at nearly every trick, Tim takes the curios approach of asking a lot of questions. We all have our responses. And then, of course, then is Kee. I cannot imagine what it means to work on a game for so long, a sequel to one of the most important games of our career, strive to stamp out bugs, and watch a speedrunner break the game anyway. Kee's face is a roller coaster of emotions: shock, grief, excitement, bargaining, and eventually some kind of acceptance. Just goes to show you that having your lead programming in the audience makes a speedrun a little sillier. It also helps explain some tricks!
It was a blast to have this opportunity to watch Edgar play our game and we encourage anyone interested because of his run up above to try speedrunning P2 yourself. Yeah, you might have found all the scavenger hunt items? But beating Maligula in the blink of an eye? I *dare* you to give it a shot, cadet!
