There’s more to high-level gaming than just the world of esports. What about the competitive scenes that you rarely see? Welcome to Other Worlds, a new show where veteran speedrunner GrandPOOBear dives into the vibrant communities behind some of these niche scenes by meeting and learning from the people behind them.
First up; Hades, the action roguelike game that made a splash back in 2018 when it was first released. The game won several awards including many Game of The Year titles and even made history by being the first video game to win a Hugo award. The way to complete Hades is simple: beat all stages and bosses without dying. However, you can expect to die… a lot. Every time you die, you start all the way back from the beginning, but a little bit stronger. The average amount of lives it takes to beat the game is around 30-50 and several hours of powering up your character Zagreus. But of course there are those who want to challenge the status quo and defy the order of the gods. There are those we know as speedrunners.
When the game first launched, this small community of Hades speedrunners shared their best times online and passed around any info they could gather on how to go faster. Their Discord server held less than a hundred members. Hades isn’t a technically difficult game to master, but you have to know how to make decisions since your time is very RNG dependent. Every room holds randomized enemy mobs, and you have to understand what choices affect your item building and probability. So being able to share information was key for Hades speedrunners to cut down their times. But equally as important were the bonds that the players were building along the way.
It’s all love and encouragement from one speedrunner to the next. When player Lili broke Hades speedrunner and LEC caster Medic’s world record, Medic posted a congratulatory tweet. But even more wholesome than that, before breaking Medic’s record, Lili reached out and waited for Medic to be able to announce his world record title live on LEC. As soon as he did he took the title from him.
And since then, the strategy and community has evolved so much, placing Medic 32nd on the current leaderboard for Hades v1.37+. Back in 2020 a 19 minute real-time was a top 10 time. Now, the real time record is at 12:57, placing a 19 minute run outside of the top 200. This is because players happily give their strategy away and pass along any new info they gather in hopes that others can raise the bar. A win for one seems to be a win for all.
Join GPB as he learns more about the Hades speedrunning scene with @Haelian , Medic and Courtney Vineys, the voice of Dusa and Aphrodite, and tries his hand at cracking the leaderboards for fresh file Hades speed runs.
0:00 Hades & the Community
5:02 Interview w/ Haelian, Medic & Courtney Vineys
11:03 Fresh File Speedrun w/ Haelian & GPB
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this is wonderful, first game i ever speedran and couldn't ask for a better community :, )
was really lovely to see the community recognized like this!!! thank you <3
Hades was the game that got me through the pandemic. I have so many amazing memories on this game so many jaw-dropping moments in the storytelling, so many clutch runs, so many failed runs, And so many victories. Being a part of Halien’s and jawless Paul’s discord communities kept me company and sanity amidst the trying times of 2020 to 2021. I absolutely adore this game and the community will always hold a place in my heart forever.
Great video! Hades speedrunning is fantastic
The hades community is so awesome and I love being a part of it, I'm so glad the community got a great showcase in this video
so happy to be a part of this community and to see it represented here (and even to briefly be on-screen lol). huge shoutouts to everyone involved!
It's heartwarming to see our wonderful community showcased. thanks for making this~
amazing video, I’m glad to be part of such a wonderful community 🙂
Thanks for making this video, it's great to see the community get some recognition. There's no better way to start the adventure into Hades speedrunning than with a Fresh File run
The Hades speedrunning community has been a blessing to me for the past year or so. So many lovely people. Love to see it represented here!
Awesome vid! I'll have to check out this Hades speedrunning community. They seem pretty cool and nice and attractive
I've been in the community for over a year now and even though I've stopped competing several months ago I still hang out because the people there are so nice. No matter how "competitive" your time is, people are so encouraging and supportive. Despite the size of the server increasing by ~10x since I joined, it still feels close. Thank you so much for making this video
The highliight of my time here was absolutely participating in the Hyper Delivery 5 All Aspects race running my favorite (meme) weapon Zagreus Shield. We raised $4206.9 (yes we planned this) for charity and to even be a part of that kind of thing is surreal months later.
Nice!
great video!
Hell yeah! Awesome game and awesome streamers!!
This may be the best idea ive seen come out of the joint brain capacity of Poo and RedBull… keep it up
super dope
Love the video. GPB is fabulous! Do more with him!!
The game looks really cool, and it's always great to see Poo!
Amazing would love to see more GrandPOOBear
ayo???????
This video is amazing! Cannot wait to see what other communities are in the spotlight in this series!
Poo is a master of his craft. You can really feel the love that went into this. Great to see such staples of the Hades community also. All around great job.
Would love to see the game Danger Zone covered soon!
POOOOOOO!!!!
This was a great episode can't wait to see more
How cool, seeing Poo run different games is always fun.
Thanks Poo for sharing this great community with people.
:zagwow:
Sick video.
Awesome video!
Red Bull may have race cars and stunt copters, but my butt was thoroughly clenched at the end of Poo’s run, there!
It's awesome that the Hades community is getting into the spotlight like this. Fantastic community all around, and I'm glad I got to be a small part of it.
It's so great to see the community highlighted like this. Like Haelian, Hades was my first game that I tried speedrunning, and it's been an absolute joy to watch my fellow runners grow and improve alongside me! As mentioned in the video, the community is so supportive and just all-around comfy, it's great! GGs on the run GPB!
As a very bad three weapons speedrunner, I can confirm, the community is fantastic and it is an absolute privilege to be part of it!
Fantastic video, love all the people involved!
#GPB4Life #RedBull #RedBullGaming #CommunityLove
Will Poo interview Barb for Enter a the Gungeon?
Poo is awesome, love his content! I believe red bull deserves some super awesome love from everyone. They are redefining what it means to be a big business that pushes their agenda. It's unbelievable that they support such a concept. Guess I better go grab a bull for myself. Cheers
Really awesome to see this, I haven't run Hades since Pre 1.0 release. Love seeing how the speedrun has evolved since then.
Years later I still talk in a group chat every day with 3 other folks I met speedrunning Hades.
Looks like a crazy game
Awesome game and fantastic narrator!
Poo is such a great narrator. I learned so much about the Hades speedrunning community!
Bro on the leaderboard that fast? Poo is built different. And this series is literally what he was built different for! Good idea, Redbull or whoever.
Awesome show, awesome series. Really excited to see what's next! And great job Poo!
GrandPooBear! Awesome video!!
This is sick
Hades speedrunning community is great <3. So glad to have met such amazing and supportive people and for this community to get this video.
Also it was an urn that killed Hades at the end there. When he breaks the pots he summons they can hurt him too, really close call!