Deep Descent (Pacific Abyss) Speedrun:

[@supersmily5811]

Beautiful. The amount of spaces you can fall for more efficient routing than the casual level structure is so fun. My time's around 6 minutes right now, so you can bet I'm on my way to ya!

[@supersmily5811]

Ladles and Bentlemen, we got 'em. 5:40:50 igt. Just slightly faster execution of the last parts of the level, probably the sections that stick out from the walls or the last hoop falling section since you blundered there a bit and had to improvise. Of course, it wouldn't have been possible without implementing the faster start you use in the run above, so I'll share that credit.

[@AustinOnSugar]

@@supersmily5811 Nice job! I'm almost feeling compelled to go in and try to push that time lower again, give you a little competition - the start really is the hardest part after all. If I felt like going crazy, I'd bet using abilities and going even more absurd on the route we could probably push this down to almost sub-5... though that'd be an enormous undertaking.

[@xXMidoraiXx]

With how much the game tries to stop you from cheesing this level, this is really cathartic

[@AustinOnSugar]

I'd say that becomes doubly so for my other vids on this stage.

[@ArtillioxVODS]

I've been attempting to do something like this for the past several days and i can't manage to do it. The best ive done so far is the 9 and a half minute long video on my channel. I did manage to run on one of the walls surrounding the path like a badass though.

[@BoriquaBoY34]

My first playthrough was on challenge jester cause I'm a masochist, but the difficulty and requirement for near perfection is honestly really fun. It limits alot of speedrunning options and really forces you to execute flawless runs.

[@AustinOnSugar]

Oh, no doubt! It just seems like the community at large is going for Hard over Challenge... and I think that's fine for the more... *wild* challenges that stages like this offer when you're open for damage. Still, a Challenge run of the whole game would be marvelous to see in action.

[@BoriquaBoY34]

@@AustinOnSugar yeah I can understand why lol cause challenge mode can be frustrating sometimes 😂😂 but it’s so satisfying when you pull of crazy stunts and make it out of tough combat sections. Great run! Hope to see more 🤞🏽 I also noticed that Sfarx has a higher normal speed cap than the other characters, and he also jumps a little higher. Not sure if others realized this for speed runs yet but I thought it was neat. Kinda hard to tell his stats are actually better without some testing, but a little more speed can go a long way.

[@AustinOnSugar]

@@BoriquaBoY34 I think there's a tutorial box somewhere that mentions it; however, the game is so fresh that I wouldn't want to spoil that ability on folks. Additionally, if Jester Powers are allowed, this stage can be completed in under two and a half minutes.

[@Nappyfox]

The music in this game is fire.

[@knuxuki1013]

Reached the goal at the perfect time for the music

[@AustinOnSugar]

Love when things work out like that.

[@karlhnedkovsky5214]

Ah, more Sparky greatness!!! How many attempts did this take you? It looked like you had to reset a lot in some of those sections!

[@AustinOnSugar]

Not too long. An hour and a half of resets I'd say?

[@karlhnedkovsky5214]

@@AustinOnSugar That's still a bit of an ouch from me, chief! 😆

[@ArtillioxVODS]

​@@AustinOnSugarWait only an hour and a half? It took me like an hour of resets to be able to even barely manage the regular clear medal

[@AustinOnSugar]

@@ArtillioxVODS Oh, same, probably! But after playing the stagw a bunch for fun, from the time I sat down to record to the time of the succesful run was under two hours.

[@ArtillioxVODS]

@@AustinOnSugar Oh definitely. Spark 3 has been the only game I've been playing for like, the past 2 weeks so I decided to actually start making videos on it. I'm honestly surprised I'm not burnt out on it yet.

[@TehJellyLord]

Spark 3 is a MASTERPIECE! Also, now do Utopia Shelter ;)

[@AustinOnSugar]

I'm avoiding showing spoilers until the game's a little more widely played. This stage was shown off in a trailer though, so... I'm calling it fine. ....~15min is possible though, easily. Expect that in a few weeks.

[@TehJellyLord]

@@AustinOnSugar heck yeah I’m excited to see it. I would do speedruns of this game myself but I think the skill ceiling is a little too high for me. It’s a lot like speedrunning the Classic Sonic games in a lot of ways.

[@AustinOnSugar]

It definitely can be! Yet another word of praise towards Lake's efforts on this game. Bear in mind though that even this video just took a long session of experimentation, and a longer session of recording. Something in the area of an hour, hour and a half? Skill is up there, sure, but it's way more about patience and coming up with a plan.

[@matthewfontanez8646]

This stage is incredibly hard

[@blindedjourneyman]

ya mustve been exploring every nook n cranny to get the layout down like that and find such a ballsy route lol. dont blame ya either each stage is so massive I've often wished there was a roam option to explore some versions without time limits XD

[@AustinOnSugar]

It's a really creative setup for a level. They put the exit right below where you start; the trick is getting down efficiently. I think my more recent vid on this is more interesting, but Pacific Abyss is fun no matter how you tackle it.

[@somekami3375]

Way faster then my 12 minutes 🫠

[@AustinOnSugar]

I'd already seen this stage played in full before jumping in, and it still took me over ten minutes

[@NeutralL12]

does anyone know where to get the 3rd exploration medal in this? I have all but that one and can't find it anywhere

[@AustinOnSugar]

Yes, I do! I wouldn't want to give it away, but remember that the medals usually go in order. Yellow, I'm assuming you're looking for? is in between where you found Green and Red. If you found the other nine, I'll be more clear: it's after Grey, but before all the wall-running.

[@NeutralL12]

@@AustinOnSugar thanks! Just got it abit ago. Not sure how I did but I managed to find the spot randomly

[@stormcutter59]

I'm so glad this game exists. One of the most frustrating things about Sonic is Sega basically monopolized the whole "Speed platforming" concept and so because Sonic Team are so incompetent to make a real satisfying 3D Sonic experience, it of course falls to the fans to make it right instead. Excellent speedrun. This and Freedom Planet are my top 2 recently made speed games.

[@AustinOnSugar]

I'm not really into the whole... tearing down a team rushed by their publisher and stripped of workers because of a company's incompetence thing, but you're right that the exclusivity of Sonic in the realm of Sonic-likes (Twitch-Action Platformers? I always forget what the latest genre name for this kind of game is) has left a hole waiting to be filled. I just hope between Spark and Project Rascal folks start filling in that hole with some new blood, since Sonic seems pretty comfortable right now... _not_ pushing the genre forward.

[@stormcutter59]

@@AustinOnSugar Well I'm not as forgiving as others unfortunately, considering it's been over a decade of excuses towards Sonic Team. Say what you want about Sega, they do indeed handle their employees for Sonic pretty poorly, but I imagine if the talent that was there was actually what we think it is, I would still be seeing it shine through in some way. I honestly don't. And considering them having a 5 year dev time, I think they have had more than enough resources to prove to us they are the right people to push Sonic into the next evolution. As you have pointed out, they don't do that and I would lay blame at both the devs and the publisher for that. On another note, I do really enjoy this game. Once again, excellent speedrun man. It was really cool and a breath of fresh air for someone who's missed this style of game for a long time. I hope to pick it up if it ever comes to console