Summary
- Canadian speedrunner Mae beat all three acts of Baldur's Gate 3 in 19 minutes and 20 seconds, excluding loading times.
- Her achievement marks the first sub-20 minute run in the Any% (All Acts) category.
- Mae currently holds two other Baldur's Gate 3 speedrun world records.
One incredibly skilled Baldur's Gate 3 speedrunner managed to beat all three of the game's acts in about 19 minutes. Apart from being impressive in its own right, this achievement also marks the world's first complete Baldur's Gate 3 run that's in the sub-20 minutes territory.
The speedrunning community has been enjoying Larian's hit RPG since the game first hit early access in late 2020. At that time, a 7-minute run through Act 1 was considered an impressive feat. Three years later, the Canadian speedrunner Mae achieved a notable milestone by reaching one of the semi-secret endings of Baldur's Gate 3 in under ten minutes. She continued to refine her technique in the Any% category, ultimately reducing her time to approximately three and a half minutes.
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With that world record under her belt, the player turned to the self-explanatory Any% (All Acts) category. Her efforts have most recently culminated in an astonishing Baldur's Gate 3 speedrun that was only 19 minutes and 20 seconds long, loading times excluded. As per usual, Mae recorded her attempt and submitted it to Speedrun.com, which subsequently verified it as the new world record in this bracket. The only caveat attached to the achievement is that the run itself is segmented, meaning it features several splits.
None of the techniques employed to achieve this incredible time were new, just executed to near-perfection. For example, the majority of the run features Mae abusing Enhance Leap—which triples a given character's jumping distance—in order to move around the map as quickly as possible. The speedrunner also made good use of a clever Druid technique that allows Baldur's Gate 3 players to do a ridiculous amount of damage by transforming a character into a beast, enlarging them twice, and then jumping on an enemy; that's exactly how she made short work of the Act 2 boss that ended up succumbing to a 5-ton bear that was actually Shadowheart.
Baldur's Gate 3 Speedrun World Records
|
Category |
Player |
Time |
Load Removed time |
Run Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Any% |
maeeeeee |
4m 32s |
3m 31s 250ms |
September 18, 2023 |
|
Any% (All Acts/Explorer Mode) |
maeeeeee |
21m 33s |
19m 20s |
January 25, 2024 |
|
Any% (All Acts/Honour Mode) |
Chronos |
25m 46s 480ms |
22m 54s 140ms |
January 5, 2024 |
|
Sex% (Pre-Patch 4) |
maeeeeee |
2m 21s |
1m 58s 680ms |
October 20, 2023 |
Following this turn of events, Mae now holds the world records in three-quarters of the main Baldur's Gate 3 speedrunning brackets. Those include the joke Sex% category, which challenges players to see who can romance Lae'zel the fastest. The only title she is currently missing is that of the quickest player to beat all three acts of the game in Honour Mode. The Baldur's Gate 3 Honour Mode world record currently belongs to Chronos, a U.S.-based speedrunner who managed to complete the game's ultimate challenge in under 23 minutes, loading times excluded.
Time will tell whether Mae's newly secured world record will stand for long. But what's clear already is that five months into its release, Baldur's Gate 3 remains one of the most popular RPGs in the speedrunning community.
Baldur's Gate 3
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 96 /100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- August 3, 2023
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Larian Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Larian Studios
- Engine
- Divinity 4.0
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op, Local Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- Full cross-platform play.
WHERE TO PLAY
Abducted, infected, lost. You are turning into a monster, but as the corruption inside you grows, so does your power. Forge a tale of fellowship and betrayal, sacrifice and survival, and the lure of absolute power. Caught in a conflict between devils, deities, and sinister otherworldly forces, you and your party will determine the fate of the Forgotten Realms.
THE ULTIMATE D&D EXPERIENCE
Choose from a wide selection of D&D races and classes, or play as an origin character with a hand-crafted background. Adventure, loot, battle, and romance as you journey through the Forgotten Realms and beyond. Play alone or as a party of up to four in multiplayer – and select your companions carefully.
A CINEMATIC STORYTELLING EPIC
Forged with the new Divinity 4.0 engine, Baldur’s Gate 3 gives you unprecedented freedom to explore, experiment, and interact with a world that reacts to your choices. A grand, cinematic narrative brings you closer to your characters than ever before, as you venture through our biggest world yet. Romance, deceive, aid, obstruct, and grow alongside your friends thanks to Larian's next-generation RPG engine.
- Franchise
- Baldur's Gate
- Number of Players
- 1-4
- Split Screen Orientation
- Vertical Only
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC, macOS
- Genre(s)
- RPG
- How Long To Beat
- 100+ Hours
- Metascore
- 96
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- Local Co-Op Support
- 1-2 Players
