The player, 제하니, posted on YouTube his playthrough of the game with a world record of 1:42:10 hours.
His initial gameplay which he also posted online had him capped at 1:56:10 hours, the difference between the two records at around 14 minutes.
The game setting used was "any percent" which is what the Dark Souls community-run, SpeedSouls Wiki describes as "a speedrun category in which the player tries to complete the game as fast as possible. There are no added restrictions on how the player completes the game [and] must simply start a new character and beat the final boss ... as quickly as they can." The use of third party software to alter the game in the player's favor, such as code-editing, is not allowed unless otherwise stated by the Dark Souls player community.
The video, called "Dark souls 3 speedrun WR IGT 1:42:10 any% 다크소울3 스피드런" on Youtube, has a description box containing the words, "START speed runs 12:00 / this run die die die die die die die die die die YOU DIE run~," which is essentially 제하니's plan to beat the game in record time. The gameplay starts at the 12-minute mark.
제하니's Dark Souls III character can be seen running through most of the game. He seems to have mastered and memorized the seemingly mazelike appearance of the game while continuously dodging and rolling around to avoid enemies save for the bosses that would unlock the next chapter. He didn't avoid death completely, though, as we see his character getting critically hit at times and restarting chapters at save points throughout the game.
제하니 is reportedly the first player to set this "any percent" world record as the game has only been released in Japan just this month. Other players outside of Japan, who are itching to beat the current world record of one hour and 42 minutes, have to wait until worldwide release on April 12 to get their copies of the game.
Dark Souls III is available for preorders and is playable on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 4 platforms.
Watch the video here:
