Astro's Playroom speed running scene is heating up as players post impressive sprints through levels
One player has a scarcely believable time of 19.63 seconds
Astro's Playroom players are competing for the top spot of the Climbing Run challenge, and the speedrun videos are seriously impressive.
The PS5 launch title has been out for less than a month and avid speedrunners are showing off their skills by competing for the fastest run of the Climbing Run challenge.
The Climbing Run is a level in Astro's Playroom where you take control of a monkey suit and climb as fast as you can to the top of the cliff. To do this, you must take full advantage of the DualSense motion controls while simultaneously using the triggers to grip onto the correct climbing holds on the wall.
For a first-timer it can be quite the challenge, it took me a few minutes to figure out the best movement for the controller, realising that tilting it left to right is the best solution. However, it seems speedrunners are having no problem because they're managing to complete the Climbing Run in the most impressively fast ways.
A user, who goes by the username SwordsAndTurt, recently posted footage of their fastest time yet, beating the level in just 19.63 seconds, who currently sits at 8th place on the leaderboard. The video shows just how fast you have to be with the DualSense motion controls to even attempt to complete the level with a time like that, I bet their arms must hurt.
I have been speedrunning Climbing Run a lot recently, today I was able to obtain a 19.63, I'm currently in 8th place with a 19.48. from r/PS5
Another player, The_Virtual_Guy, posted their latest speedrun to the PS5 subreddit, showing how he'd been the Climbing Run challenge in 20.63 seconds. Not as fast as SwordAndTurt, but the speedrunner is hoping to break the 20 seconds threshold eventually.
Unexpectedly, it seems that the Astro's Playroom speedrunnning scene has really set off since the launch of the PS5, with more impressive videos appearing almost daily.
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Astro's Playroom is only available for free with the PS5.
Did you know Astro's Playroom Gacha machine has a hidden DualSense mechanic?
Demi is a freelance video games journalist with a particular love for Final Fantasy. She's written for GamesRadar, NME, TheGamer, and Gamespot in recent years.