When you consider that the average total time spent for a full Dark Souls 3 playthrough often adds up to 50 or more hours, it’s hard not to be in awe of the talented speedrunners who can clear the whole game in less than two. Case and point: dedicated Dark Souls 3 speedrunner and YouTuber Nemz38 recently managed to beat all of the game’s bosses (including DLC bosses) without using any skips or glitches and did it all in just under one and a half hours, setting a new world record in the process.
As an avid Dark Souls fan who has poured hundreds of hours into the series, I always enjoy watching speedrunners tear through each game, making fights that gave me *a lot* of trouble look stupidly easy (I’ll admit I’m a little jealous as well). Of course, as talented as speedrunners like Nemz38 are, mistakes do happen, and seeing how speedrunners recover from those mistakes is a big part of the fun. Despite its difficult combat and engrossing scenery, speedrunning a massive game like Dark Souls 3 can become a bit monotonous and formulaic after a while, so seeing how speedrunners react when something doesn’t go according to plan is always a treat. Just note that the below video has some strong language.
In total, Nemz38’s new world record run takes one hour, 25 minutes, and 19 seconds. Within the speedrunning community, there are eight major world record categories for Dark Souls 3, and this past February Nemz38 actually held all eight of them. However, other challengers have managed to secure some of those world records over the past few months, so this latest run could also be seen as Nemz38 recapturing some of his former glory.
Also, if you’re thinking of taking up speedrunning yourself, Nemz38’s stream UI includes a controller graphic that shows which buttons he is pressing and how fast he is pressing them. If you’re hoping to one day set world record speedruns of your own, just make sure your finger dexterity and muscle memory are up to the task.