Speedrunner beats Sekiro in 2 hours while blindfolded

The amount marks the highest charity collection for the annual event with the highest donation being $236,656. The highlight of the event, however, was speedrunner Mitchriz, who only used audio cues and trained muscle memory to beat the Souls-like title in two hours. Tricks include striking with a sword to feel out the walls and memorising how many steps and dashes it would take to reach a certain location.

Mitchriz had previously achieved an under 2-hour completion back in December 2021, while a Chinese speedrunner, Just Blind, holds the record for finishing it in 1 hour 42 minutes. Mitchriz used the charity event as a way to teach aspiring speedrunners and fans a few “cheese” moves that would help them slay the painfully relentless bosses.

“SUB 2 HOURS BLINDFOLDED!! I finally did it after months of grinding. Really happy with this one, and so excited to show off all the new strategies at GDQ,” he said on Twitter.

According to AGDQ’s tracker, it hosted a total of 149 speedruns and received 49,504 donations from January 9 to January 16. The event was broadcast on Twitch and accumulated the first $1 million in the shortest amount of time in the event’s 12-year history. Other notable moments include InsertLogic’s 28:35 minute run of Kena Bridge of Spirits and Jaxler, who finished Pumpkin Jack in under 45 minutes.

The fundraising event will be running its second session, Frost Fatales, from February 27 to March 5, 2022. This time, it will be an all-women speedrunning event, intended to raise funds for the Malala Fund.