Resident Evil 3 Remake Speedrun Editorial% Keyboard Only New WR
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It’s hard to be scared when you’re too busy being a fucking champion. That’s how I explain the speedruns of horror games. When you peel away the horror to expose the systems underneath everything, the fear is gone. I’ve been a casual watcher of speedruns for quite a few years now. I still have my Dark Souls GDQ shirt from 2018. I always love seeing the horror block. People like Carcinogen, MikeWave, and others absolutely breaking horror games over their knees. Among the horror speedruns, I’ve always had a special spot for the Resident Evil series. The original trilogy, with its tank controls, pre-rendered backgrounds, and fixed camera angles just doesn’t scream “fast” to me. They’re games where you must be thoughtful with every move, lest the shambling horde eats you alive. Someone saw that and said, “I can do this fast”.
Recently, I was gifted a copy of the Resident Evil 3 remake. It came out in early 2020, and I really have no excuse for not checking it out sooner. I was initially turned off by people telling me that it was short, and that Capcom had removed a bunch of stuff that made the original great. I begrudgingly set in to play through it and found that it’s actually quite good. It is definitely different from the original, but different doesn’t always mean worse. I wouldn’t even compare it to the original, because they’re two very different games. I’d even go so far as to say they feel like different genres altogether. The original Resident Evil 3 was plodding, contemplative, slow. The remake is a third-person action game at heart and in presentation.
I finished Resident Evil 3 remake and my mouse cursor hovered over the uninstall button like the sword of Damocles. I had put 4+ hours into the main story and the thing that stayed my hand when I wanted to uninstall was that fact. I have rural internet, and 4 hours didn’t justify the amount of time I had spent downloading the game. There is no mercenaries mode in Resident Evil 3. No extra modes at all aside from a new game plus. I needed a way to get more time with Resident Evil 3 remake. “I can do it fast”, I thought to myself. I have no experience in speedrunning aside from watching speedruns. I had never seen a speedrun of Resident Evil 3 remake.
I thought about my first playthrough, and places where I could save time. I booted the game back up and went through as fast as I could. I managed, on my second playthrough, to finish in just over an hour and a half. I felt like that was fast, but it could be faster. I decided to go to a place where I knew I could get some help: Speedrun.com. Originally a place for people to trade speed demos of Quake and Doom, it has grown into a thriving community where speedrunners can gather to compare, assist, and submit their times. I felt pretty good about my 1.5 hour time, and wanted to see what the world record for Resident Evil 3 remake looked like. The world record for Resident Evil 3 remake currently sits at 39 minutes 14 seconds.
I was shocked. I was confused. Are you telling me that my second playthrough of this game ever isn’t world record material? I needed a category. Speedruns are often broken up into different categories: New Game, new game plus, any percent, 100 percent. The options are expansive. It makes speedrunning more accessible. I found the category for me. New game plus, any percent, assisted. Assisted doesn’t mean someone stands over my shoulder and tells me what to do. No, assisted is the lowest difficulty in Resident Evil 3 remake. New game plus allows me to use the infinite rocket launcher, and any percent means I can skip anything non-essential and run for the ending as quick as possible. Comfortable in my category I started a new run.
It’s been about a week since I started, and my original hour and a half run seems quaint. I didn’t know how to stair skate, I didn’t use the Carlos boost, I didn’t understand camera manipulation. It is downright strange how speedrunning techniques can make a game feel so fresh. Resident Evil 3 remake is a fun speedrun because there aren’t any difficult tricks. Some speedruns have frame perfect tricks or glitches that can take months to master. While I applaud the runners who put in that time; that just ain’t me. The great thing about that is the community isn’t going to think less of me for taking on a game that is more accessible for the n00b. In my time lurking the Speedrun.com forums, I’ve found a community full of support.
No one is keeping their strategies secret. There is a feeling of cooperation and collaboration that runs through the speedrunning community. I’m not saying they’re all great people with no flaws, but they try their hardest. Within minutes of landing on the site I was looking at comprehensive, well-written guides on the tricks of Resident Evil 3 remake. For example, the stair skate: In Resident Evil 3 remake, you can move up and down stairs faster by feathering the “aim weapon” button. This shaves precious seconds off of a run. Some tricks are a bit harder, like 45 degree turns with a mouse, and at times, camera manipulation can be a bit tough. It’s heartening that someone took the time to write out – in detail – how these tricks work and how they affect a run.
So with all of that said, how is my time looking? Well my 8th run last night landed me a new personal best. I’m currently sitting at 56 minutes. Initially, when this started, sub-1 hour was my goal. If I could get under an hour I would feel like a real deal speedrunner. Now that I’ve achieved that, I know I can get it lower. Can I do sub-45? Maybe sub-40? The record is 39:14. Can I get that low? Might as well see.
