The Lands Between, with all its sadistic charm, was never designed for those in a hurry. Yet here we are in 2026, looking back at the moment the speedrunning community decided that FromSoftware’s magnum opus was merely a suggestion. Imagine a ballet dancer performing grand jetés across a minefield where every step triggers a boss fight—that’s what early Elden Ring speedruns felt like. A chaotic symphony of dodges, glitches, and sheer audacity, all set to a ticking clock.
In April 2022, a YouTuber named Hazeblade did something that made the game’s demigods collectively facepalm. He cleared the entire game in under 25 minutes using an Any% route—a category where reaching the end credits by any means necessary is the only rule. No, he didn’t build a time machine. He exploited something far more fascinating: a glitch known as "The Zip." This anomaly, behaving like a quantum hiccup strapped to a hummingbird on espresso, allowed Hazeblade to wrong-warp across the map, skipping entire dungeons and several family dinners’ worth of suffering. His final time? A crisp 24 minutes and 37 seconds 🕒.
Before The Zip became the talk of the town, speedrunners relied on something a little more old-school: hitting things really hard with frostbite. The Icerind Hatchet’s weapon art, Hoarfrost Stomp, was the instrumental icebreaker. Getting it early became the cornerstone of the "Icerind route." Think of that hatchet as a can opener for a particularly tough tin of sardines—except the sardines are demigods, and the can is the entire game. The stomp shredded through Margit, Godrick, and eventually even Radagon, proving that an icy foot is mightier than a sword.
Then along came The Zip, and suddenly the rulebook was torn in two. This glitch was deeply hardware-dependent, making it a temperamental diva. On some rigs, it would fling a Tarnished halfway across Liurnia; on others, it just shrugged. Hazeblade’s mastery of this finicky mechanic shaved entire minutes off his personal best, a tectonic shift in a discipline where every frame counts. Watching the run, you could almost hear the game whispering “That’s illegal” as he bypassed the Fire Giant like a tourist skipping a long queue.
Not to be outdone, another speedrunner named Kogarrashi posted a 23:06 run in the same window of time, though his category came with an asterisk the size of a Great Rune. Kogarrashi’s run was an NG+43 Any% endeavor. Translation: he started with a character so overpowered from 43 previous playthroughs that the Lands Between practically rolled out a welcome mat. While still a breathtaking feat—equal parts muscle memory and sheer efficiency—it’s a different beast altogether. It’s like comparing a cheetah to a cheetah on a motorcycle: both are fast, but one has a significant head start 🏍️. His run leaned on previously unlocked routes, fully upgraded flasks, and a firepower that made bosses evaporate faster than a mistimed dodge roll.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the two styles in their early glory days:
| Aspect | Hazeblade’s Fresh Any% | Kogarrashi’s NG+43 Any% |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | A naked, bewildered Tarnished | A demigod in all but title |
| Key advantage | The Zip glitch, frostbite stomp | Legacy gear, end-game stats |
| World record time | 24:37 | 23:06 |
| Philosophical vibe | “I am speed” | “Speed is already mine” |
By 2026, both records have been left in the dust countless times. New glitches have been uncovered—some so absurd they make The Zip look like a polite door-opening. Runners now navigate the game in ways that would make a Tarnished cartographer weep. Yet these early milestones remain cultural touchstones, akin to the Wright brothers’ first flight in an age of hypersonic jets. They remind us that every revolution starts with someone asking, “What if I just… teleported?”
The Zip itself became a philosophical talking point about accessibility in speedrunning. Since its reliability hinged on hardware, it inadvertently created tiers of potential record-chasers, a scenario as if some runners were given wind-assisted shoes while others ran barefoot. Debate raged on Discord servers and Twitch chats—was a world record still valid if your graphics card was doing half the work? The community eventually branched into stricter categories, a testament to how seriously speedrunners take their digital chaos.
Today, firing up an Elden Ring speedrun video from April 2022 feels like unearthing a fossil of pure, chaotic creativity. The Icerind Hatchet phase, the Zip era—they’re now chapters in an ever-expanding grimoire of madness. And if you happen to be a new player watching these old runs, don’t blink. You might miss the moment a Tarnished rode a glitch straight into legend, giving the Greater Will a collective migraine. 🌟
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