Less than a week after its launch, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom speedruns are already popping up and putting our playtimes to shame.
While many of us are still fiddling about in the overworld as we tick off the first few dungeons, select speedrunners have started posting completion times of under an hour. Naturally, these speedruns showcase the game's final dungeon and boss, so we'd only recommend watching if you don't mind some pretty intense spoilers.
gymnast86 posted a 59-minute run yesterday, which was swiftly topped by Twitch streamer OnakuTV , who polished off the grand finale in an eye-watering 52 minutes and 51 seconds. What's more, in the latter run, the streamer confessed that a sub-50-minute time is very much on the cards — just look at what's been achieved in under a week!
This is all thanks to a sequence-breaking warp glitch that was recently shared on the r/speedrun Reddit. By summoning a Sign Echo in a specific area after completing the first dungeon, runners are able to manipulate the warp mechanic to send Zelda straight to the final chapter. Hey, it might not be the cleanest way of completing the game, but you've got to respect how quickly it has been uncovered.
OnakuTV shared their 52-minute run on YouTube — remember, only give it a watch if you're all okay with beefy spoilers.
Even without sub-one-hour completion times, we're having a great time with Echoes of Wisdom. In our 9/10 review, we called it "one of the best top-down adventures in the series," praising just about everything that it had to offer (bar an inconsistent frame rate). You can find our full thoughts below.