Even sticky keys can’t stop Sekiro master and other speedrunners from raking in $2.5 million for Summer Games.

Another year, another incredibly talented gamer has raised huge amounts of money for charity. The popular speedrunning event Summer Games Done Quick took place last week and raised over $2.5 million for Doctors Without Borders, bringing together runners who competed in a mix of modern and retro games with various quirky objectives or difficult requirements. Like an attempt to complete Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice without getting hit (oh my god) and a rushed anti-gravity swim through the Outer Wilds solar system but without using the game’s spaceship (what). Let’s be happy that these people are using their powers for good.

The event saw seven days of speedrunning with many games covered. A glitch-free Elden Ring speedrun saw the charity stream break the $2 million mark, with even speedrunner “Blanxz” briefly pausing to clap in-game. But not before a previous From Software game took to the stage. A 37-minute Sekiro speedrun included a comedic aside when the run was interrupted by sticky keys. Runner “Mitchriz” had to hold back his own laughter as he paused to turn off the annoying sound effect. The intended goal of a completely glitch-free run in the Sengoku-era slicer wasn’t met, but who cares, we had a good laugh.

Meanwhile, a speedrun of Outer Wilds was done without a ship, which involved the runner “PTMinsker” propelling himself into space using the Recon Probe Launcher for extra momentum, then following the orbit of the Solar Station – a solar research outpost in extremely low orbit. Absolutely insane behavior. Well done.

There are plenty of other highlights from the various recent games, should you choose to browse them. Notably a 14-minute sprint through Animal Well that saw plenty of precise air-bubble platforming and a section of Balatro that the commentators joked would be affected by “just a little RNG”.

I don’t watch speedruns with the same regularity as other speedrunning enthusiasts. But Games Done Quick events are interesting even for non-hardcore people, because the commentators (and even the runner) usually explain things as they happen, highlighting glitches or exploits. Previous years have raised similar amounts of money, and the event has been raising money for good causes since 2010. In other speedrunning news, a Quake player last week broke a record on the first level of Nightmare difficulty, a difficulty setting infamous for a cramped bunny hop through E1M1. Nice.