The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim world record!

The fifth part of The Elder Scrolls success series celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. To mark the anniversary, a gamer who specializes in speedruns has set a new world record. A simple trick in the sewers of Rifton brings the extra minutes.

Skyrim is a game like no other

What makes Skyrim the favorite game of many gamers is the unique map, the great sense of freedom of the open world and the numerous, interesting quests. The game was released in November 2011 and triggered an incredible hype. Until today, versions of the game for PC, Playstation and xBox are selling. With the current Anniversary Edition, the developers also integrated the most popular mods into the vanilla game and invited players to spend another 500 hours in the revamped Edge of Heaven. Skyrim can be played in very different and unique ways: whether as a secretive mage, a bear-biting orc warrior or an imperial cabbage farmer - Skyrim offers players the opportunity to invent themselves and their character and write their very own story.

But the gaming community has also discovered opportunities for competition in Skyrim. In addition to the "no hands" or "necromancy only" challenge, there is also a very well-known form of competition in the gaming world: the speedrun.

Get through the main story as fast as possible

A speedrun is about completing a certain questline as fast as possible. Mostly this concerns the main story. There are two variants. The glitch-based speedrun: In this version of the speedrun, players work with glitches and bugs. They can help get the player from A to B quickly or skip entire quest chapters. Incidentally, the most famous glitch in Skyrim is based on a wooden bucket that can be placed under the character and catapults you up mountains and walls. Especially when climbing High Hrothgar, this glitch is important. 

But for measuring the world record, only the glitch-free version of the speedrun is allowed. This is also based on some tricks, but it is not considered cheating. The current world record was set by team "Glitchless" and is 1:12:15 hours from the dragon attack in Helgen to the destruction of Alduin. Responsible for this high speed is the Youtuber nucular. His record is closely followed by TODDs_Telemedien with 1:13:34. Where this minute time difference comes from and what is the latest trick to get through the main story faster, follows now.

A rat in a jam (and in jail?)

One minute of time saved may not sound like much at first, but it's a fortune in the world of speedruns. The chance to save precious time lies in, of all places, Rifton, the city of thieves and swindlers. Esbern is hiding deep in the sewers, and he will take the player to the Temple of Heavenly Refuge and eventually to the Blades. Before entering the thieves' guild, the player should steal from or hit a guard and lure them into the depths of the sewers with him. As soon as Esbern opens the door and is ready to follow the player, he has to get himself arrested. This way, he is teleported directly to the Rifton prison and saves himself the exhausting and obstacle-filled way back to the surface. However, this trick requires a lot of good timing and also some luck.

The role of stamina

It is also important not to spend too much time regenerating stamina and mana. Potions, which the player can collect in heaps throughout the game world, can help with this. They can regenerate stamina and help the player move faster through the world of Himmelstand. Another helpful tool is the whirlwind sprint - a scream that catapults the player forward with a burst of momentum. When doing a speedrun, it should be remembered that not every enemy needs to be killed and not every dialogue needs to be completed in order to advance in the story. It's just a matter of completing the central cornerstones of the story and getting new entries in the quest log.

Level calibration for speedruns

Since the player hardly interacts with the usual game elements during a speedrun, he hardly levels up at all. The enemies in the world of Skyrim adapt to the player's level. The speedrun leads to bizarre situations, like an ancient Alduin boss on level 2 that can barely take two hits. The easy fights are necessary to save as much speed as possible.

Speedrun and Survival Mode

With the anniversary edition, a new game component was created: Survival Mode. This one brings survival elements like hunger, sleep and cold into the game and makes the effects of diseases more dramatic. Survival Mode could bring a whole new genre of Skyrim speedruns. But even for players who like to play the game slowly, Survival Mode is worth a playthrough. It makes the game a lot more realistic and difficult. Especially for those who feel at home in Skyrim, it can be a delightful challenge. Especially in combination with the difficulty level "Legendary".

Will there soon be a new world record?

With the swarm intelligence of the Skyrim community, there will surely be some more wormholes in the world of Himmelsrand soon. We may even see the record of less than an hour. However, this will require a few rounds of trial and error and chance. And one thing is for sure: speedruns are an interesting way to set new charms in Sky Rim and put Bethesda's programming to the test. From flying buckets to arrests in the sewers, Skyrim programming holds many interesting quirks. For enthusiastic players, it can be interesting to set up a very personal speedrun success even without the claim to the world record.

After all, the problem with the dragons can't be solved fast enough.