"This absolutely lost us time, but it was worth it."
Speedrunners are some of the most dedicated people in gaming, devoting hours upon hours to mastering their respective games and achieving excellence—but when it comes to raising money for charity, they're often completely unhinged for a good cause.
As is the case with TaintedTali, a speedrunner who blazed through Alan Wake 2 for ESAWinter24 last week (thanks, GamesRadar). For those not in the know, Alan Wake 2 has a rock opera-style musical number named the Herald of Darkness. It's a fever-dream bout of tone subversion so popular it was performed live at the Game Awards last year.
It's also something you'd skip if you're trying to do a speedrun. Cutscenes are just extra baggage after all—and any speedrunner has played through a game normally to get to grips with it, so it's not like they're missing out. TaintedTali felt differently, though. Moments before the iconic cutscene plays, she nonchalantly says: "I don't know about you, but I need to get up and stretch my legs." Moments later, this happens.
I'm so proud to have showcased #AlanWake2 at a major speedrun event, and of course we had to really make something special for this moment ????@SamLakeRMD @TimePirateNinja @RiotRMD #ESAWinter24 pic.twitter.com/N6XP4P2kc6February 22, 2024
Yes, that's her and the crowd performing the number live alongside the game. I don't know about you, but I don't think she's getting the world record like this. What she might do is encourage donations, which is what ESAWinter24 was all about—running from February 17 to February 24 and raising over $85,000 for Make-A-Wish International.
It looks like there are a couple of mis-inputs from the less-than-coordinated flash mob behind her, but this still freaking rules. The confetti at the end is a nice touch, too. "This absolutely lost us time," TaintedTali writes to a baffled commenter, "but it was worth it."
These kinds of off-the-cuff shenanigans are my favourite part of events like this—and they're half of what makes them worth watching in the first place. Sure, seeing a mastermind teleport to the dev room by stuffing a corpse into the pocket of a boss and shoving them is great, but so are guitar solos and coordinated dance moves. Rock on.
