Breath of the Wild Speedrunner sets new world record ahead of Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Release

Breath of the Wild's speedrunning community is still going strong, as demonstrated by a fresh world record achieved just days before the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The latest world record for the Any% category of Breath of the Wild, where the objective is to complete the game as quickly as possible without taking into account other completion goals, now stands at 23:42. The record was established by a well-known BotW speedrunner, Player 5, over the weekend, surpassing the previous world record set by Koroks just 12 days earlier by seven seconds.

Even though Breath of the Wild has a lively speedrunning community, a seven-second improvement for a new record is a significant feat. Furthermore, Player 5 states that there is still potential for progress. The new record was established mostly through remarkable times during the Ganon fight. In the description of the YouTube video, Player 5 remarked that although the Great Plateau completion time "isn't terrible," it still falls 15-16 seconds short of their best plateau time.

If you're familiar with BotW speedruns, you're undoubtedly familiar with Player 5's name. The speedrunner achieved a record time of only 25 minutes just last year. As Tears of the Kingdom's speedrunning era approaches, it'll be fascinating to observe what previous record holders can accomplish in the new game. As one commentator on Player 5's world record video observed, "I'm genuinely scared about what this guy will be able to achieve in TotK." Although Player 5 indicates that this might be their last PB before TotK, there is still plenty of room for improvement, and it'll be exciting to see how the community continues to push the limits of speedrunning in Breath of the Wild.