Since Tears of the Kingdom arrived last month, Legend of Zelda fans have spent an incredible amount of energy relentlessly exploring the picturesque plains of Hyrule and enjoying what they have to offer.
Some players have been dedicating most of their time in the game to building and sharing an array of interesting contraptions that can unleash waves of destruction, help solve platforming puzzles, or make it easier to get around, while others have begun trying to inject some randomness or nostalgic vibes into it via mods.
Meanwhile, a group of incredibly dedicated speedrunners have decided to dedicate themselves to beating the game as fast as possible, with one having just recorded the first ever sub-50 minute run.
How much of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom can you get through in 50 minutes?
As we’ve covered previously, following the breaking of the one hour barrier late last month by Zdi6923, the community has had its sights set on producing an any% time under 50 minutes, which marks the next step in the ongoing process of grinding things down to the sub-30 minute mark.
Now, speedrunner Player5 has managed to achieve this goal, having scythed through the game in 49 minutes and 42 seconds towards the end of a five-hour-long streaming session that saw them manage to avoid being stalled too much by the final boss fights, as they had in their previous best run.
The streamer, who also currently holds the any% run record for Breath of the Wild, looked more relieved than anything else upon achieving the feat, taking a few quiet breaths while their chat went crazy, before calmly saying: “Thanks for all the GGs, I’m very happy with that one.”
They then admitted that they’d been planning not to stream early this week, but felt like getting below 50 minutes was so close that they couldn’t resist, revealing that they’d have extended today’s stream to eight hours and streamed the next day if that had been what it took.
Odds are this record, which is yet to be formally submitted to Tears of the Kingdom's Speedrun.com page, will soon be surpassed, as speedrunners like Player 5 and gymnast86, who nearly grabbed the first sub-50 run themselves, inevitably find more strategies and routes to further optimise things.
Regardless of what you’re getting up to in Tears of the Kingdom while you wait for its eventual DLC to arrive, make sure to follow us for a bunch of helpful guides that can aid your adventures in Hyrule by showing you how to find the secret Gerudo shop, grab a Hylian Shield or unlock Skyview Towers.