100% Zelda runs are now a thing, it seems

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild speedruns were bound to happen the moment the developers decided on putting the actual final boss smack in the middle of the map. It is a completely different thing to do a 100% run – to collect all the stuff that the community agreed need to be collected. It includes every shrine, all 900 Korok seeds, and the photo compendium of beasts and weapons.

French speedrunner, Xalikah, managed to do the first 100% speedrun in 49 hours, 9 minutes and 41 seconds, even taking a nap break at some point. He used a percentage tracker for the duration of the game, working through as many tricks as possible for speeding through shrines, using extra speed potions, climbing waterfalls with ice blocks, grabbing all the stuff he was supposed to on the way. And that is a lot of things to keep in mind. As he says “The hard part is thinking about all the items and stuff you need. Especially when the lack of sleeps kicks in.”

The main challenge was, of course, the limit of human capability to deal with the lack of sleep. Xalikah himself said that it got really hard around hour 30: “I felt like the run wasn’t going to end, so I decided to take a nap break.” And while we applaud the willpower, it is important to remember how taxing these speedruns can be. Streamers dying in the middle of 24h streams for charity is a real risk.

Breath of the Wild has been around for almost two months and it has so far garnered almost exclusive praise. It is a Switch seller, but also a Wii U seller, and a successful one at that. If you have just taken up this great new adventure, make sure to check our comprehensive guides list.