Someone has completed Baldur’s Gate 3, from start to credit roll, in just over ten minutes. Yes, ten minutes. A game with a 35.5 hour main story, 94 hours for a completionist run according to How Long to Beat, and it was over so fast I couldn’t tell what was going on. Speedrunner Mae managed this incredible feat over the weekend using just the origin character Gale, an extremely powerful jump ability, and a specific set of choices that end the game just a little earlier than people might anticipate.
Warning: Mild spoilers for an early-game ending of Baldur’s Gate 3 lie below. Read on at your own risk!
If you’re wondering how speedrunners are sprinting through all three acts of Baldur’s Gate 3 in this record time, one major component of the answer is simply that…they aren’t. There’s actually a “false” or “bad” ending of sorts to Baldur’s Gate 3 that can be triggered in Act 2 by making a very specific choice as Gale. I won’t spoil all the details of how this works, but if you’re familiar with Gale’s backstory, you know he has a “condition” of sorts that can be quite volatile. If triggered in a specific way during the events of Act 2, it’s effectively Game Over for the party. So speedrunners just have to play as Gale, then sprint at top speed toward a very specific conversation in Act 2 and then make a specific choice that will role the credits to “complete” Baldur’s Gate 3.
Still, this moment in Act 2 is pretty deep into the game – I say this as someone who’s put in almost 30 hours and still isn’t out of Act 1. To get there fast, speedrunners have to skip basically every single important moment on the way to Gale’s decision. This includes everything with the goblin camp and the Emerald Grove, the entire Underdark, every sidequest, and every single companion character except for the almost-mandatory Shadowheart, who brute forces her way into the party near the end of Act 1 if you don’t get her beforehand. It helps that Gale can move really, really fast: Enhanced Leap lets him jump far and long through the majority of both acts, and Misty Step helps him do any necessary sneaking.
Surprisingly, this incredible speedrun uses surprisingly few glitches. Mae explains in a previous record video that the run uses a small AI glitch to skip a fight in the goblin camp, and then uses Misty Step to clip into the final area of act 2. Their updated run adds Ice Knife to kill some imps faster, and uses strategic positioning to avoid aggro at the fight in the druid grove.
Everything else, summarized by Mae, is just this: “Gale never skips leg day, jumps really fast, and then detonates a nuclear bomb.”
It’s of course entirely possible that runners will shorten this run even more from here, though as a non-speedrunner it’s rather hard to see how. Mae’s run moves so fast (including speedily spamming through all the cutscenes) it’s almost possible to watch without really being spoiled on the game, especially since they skip so much of it. Whatever comes next will likely have to get Gale from the Nautiloid all the way to Moonrise Towers even faster somehow.
I recommend playing Baldur’s Gate 3 just a touch slower than Mae did, especially if it’s your first time. If you’re still just starting a slow stumble through, check out our guides to Races and Subraces, Classes and Subclasses, and How to Build a Character before you get started. Then take a peek at our walkthrough whenever you find yourself stuck.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.