There's a new world record to beat for completing Fallout 4, thanks to a speedrunner known as BubblesDelFuego, who recently posted his fast playthrough of the game on YouTube.
That playthrough only took the gamer a little over an hour to complete. That's quite an accomplishment considering that Fallout 4 has over 100 hours of gameplay. Even if most players tackle just the main mission, they're going to spend dozens of hours getting to the end.
So, how did this player manage to get to the end with such a short playthrough? It seems that he not only made sure to get the right skills built up early on with his character, but also used game glitches to speed through Fallout 4's story and massive world.
Of course, that also meant playing the game on the "very easy" difficulty setting, which makes sense, as many believe that the game starts out rather hard anyway (there's a battle with a deathclaw shortly after the game's opening scenes).
Then, BubblesDelFuego made sure that he got the Action Boy perk as quickly as possible, which gives extra stamina (needed for sprinting), as well as more HP to survive any random encounters with enemies.
However, it's the exploits of game glitches that makes this speedrunning possible. For example, BubblesDelFuego discovered that hotkeying two different weapons and then switching back and forth between the two keeps the reloading animation from showing. Another glitch happens when holding an item: if held at just the right angle, it allows a player to walk up a wall, rather than having to go all the way around a building. Sometimes, this particular glitch even allows players to walk through walls.
Of course, this also means that BubblesDelFuego didn't do any of the side missions that you get throughout the game. Many of those require collecting certain items, clearing certain areas by killing all enemies or setting up settlements for the Minutemen. Most players indulge in these additional quests, which means that the game lasts considerably longer.
However, why would someone spend $60 on a game just to beat it so quickly? For BubblesDelFuego, it comes down to the fact that he gets easily bored. However, speedrunning is more than that: it's an art.
"I'm just a very impatient player," said BubblesDelFuego to Kotaku. "Speedrunning is a passion, and breaking the work of an entire development team is so much fun. I love providing entertainment in this form, and going fast in video games is my specialty, especially games where there is no intention of going fast. A game is a canvas, and the fun we have with it is the picture we paint."
Fallout 4 is available now on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
