SGDQ 2024 Speedruns Hit Balatro, Halo 2, and More

It’s the first week of July, a liminal period between the non-E3 marketing machine’s festivities and a surprisingly busy summer release schedule. As Americans prepare to celebrate another glorious Independence Day in the wake of baffling Supreme Court decisions and a president in decline, I can’t think of a better time to sit down, crack open a cold beer, and feast my eyes on dozens of hours of high-level speedruns.

Summer Games Done Quick is back with a week-long festival where speedrunning experts showcase their favorite games and the high-level strategies, secret shortcuts, and absurd glitches they exploit to complete them as quickly as possible. The event kicked off Sunday and runs through Saturday, July 6, with 24-hour streams of everything from recent blockbusters and indie darlings to retro classics and forgotten gems. And the entire event raises money for Doctors Without Borders, which provides medical assistance to people in need around the world. including victims of Israel’s war in Gaza.

The full speedrun schedule is available on the group’s websitebut there are a ton of things that have already happened that are worth checking out via VODs uploaded to the SGDQ Twitch And YouTube channels (they’re much better at immediately downloading performances than they have been in previous years). There’s also a very handy recap of each stream so far and its corresponding VOD link. on the Speedrunning subreddit.

Highlights so far include The ShovelClaws Game of pepper milla beautiful 2024 game full of radical mechanics and fascinating gameplay, Carrarium Mastery customary Celestial maps, including Kaizo-inspired levels, The Stelmo98 series Sonic P-06an unofficial remake from 2006 Sonic the hedgehog, The domination of Cixah roguelite poker BalatroAnd Monkeysmb Tour through the pixelated adventure full of fear Metroid Fusion.

Other all-time great games were also featured, such as Halo 2, Tomb Raider I-III RemasteredAnd silent Hill. But while it’s always fun to watch a scholar guide you through a classic, some of my favorite moments from any SGDQ are the ones that are purely meant to entertain, bring people together, and showcase the personalities of the participants, as people do. swaying along the Cloudjin in Yoshi’s Story or by performing the The Herald of Darkness Dance Number Alan Wake 2.

What’s going to happen the rest of the week? I don’t even know where to start. There’s a power supply on Wednesday from Mirror edge In PowerWash Simulatorwith Kaizo Mario Galaxy later today. July 4th will be marked by Celestial 64, Halo 3And Sekiro. I’m also really looking forward to Animal well Friday, an incredible new Metroidvania full of puzzles and secrets that is one of my favorite games of the year so far. Things wrap up in style on Saturday with Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ringand a ton of Mario.

Whatever you have planned for the rest of the week, take a few minutes here and there to soak up the incredible atmosphere of SGDQ. I mean it when I say it will restore your faith in the game and maybe even humanity, at least a little bit.