Escape the Darkwalker: 1 Hour 48 m (former) WORLD RECORD (v 1.94) Hall of Fame

This was my attempt at beating the world record for Escape the Darkwalker, which I achieved in August 2021. I recommend watching a x2 playback speed for a more digestible run.
Faster time is certainly possible, as I made several minor mistakes so 5-10 minutes faster is certainly doable. Unlike several of my other runs and tutorial, this run is not spliced - it was all done in one go, and I have not edited or cut the footage.
This record has since been beaten by Pantreme X:
• The Long Dark | Escape...
No mic - narrating while speedrunning can be hard, as it requires a lot of focus and often several attempts (this was my 2nd attempt). If interested, I can add a version with commentary.
Special thanks to GunTech1 who discovered the Ravine shortcut that avoids the deathbarrier.
Discord: / discord
Twitch: / stylezaknafein

[@tannerdye9692]

Ngl i was expecting his silky smooth voice to gently explain the inevitablw genius of his each move in detail

[@pathfinder_strider]

Can we just take a minute to appreciate what an amazing job Hinterland did while creating an horror atmosphere through the sound work of this challenge?

[@animefreak4132]

I suck with horror games I screamed when I died to the darkwalker

[@canubeetquad]

No

[@everythingsalright1121]

Id like a commentary version that explains things and your thought process

[@LAHover]

Yes please! even if it's just a reupload of the same run (cut down for time). Commentary would be great :)

[@pamlange7289]

Absolut! And with a code word....😜

[@kennethmoureau5123]

I second this pleeeease

[@Zaknafein]

Thank you for all the kind comments and requests! What I will do is to try to improve on my fastest runs, and I aim to add commentary to all future speedruns in editing. If I cannot beat my fastest time, I can re-upload the same run with commentary.

[@jayst]

@@Zaknafein that would be amazing :-]

[@ricafrod]

If anyone else was wondering (because it took me forever to figure it out by myself), the reason he takes off clothes is to increase his max stamina!

[@TheGallicWitch]

This is super impressive to me. I've been playing TLD for four years, I have hundreds of hours, but you do stuff in this speedrun that are insane to me. That skip through the ravine to get down from the track down to the river and get into BI? That's in-sa-ne to me. I would be so scared to do it, given how often I've lost 100+ runs to falling over any other death. Congratulations on the WR, man!

[@faikerdogan2802]

:D

[@everythingsalright1121]

tbh fall damage in the long dark is hilariously overexaggerated, its like you got legs of jello or something i swear

[@jayst]

@@everythingsalright1121 LOL I agree. The ankles of the characters in the long dark are made out of thin glass for sure

[@TheGlenn8]

Can you explain the routing in this run? For a normal run of escape the darkwalker I always thought starting in broken railroad or bleak inlet made the most sense. Then quickly passing through muskeg to get to bleak inlet / broken railroad. Then passing through muskeg a final to get to mountain town. Then you go river valley > mountain town > Mysterylake > coastal > desolation > coastal > pleasant valley > timberwolf > ash canyon. That or you start in hushed river valley because those two climbs to the campfire can be a deathtrap. I also noticed that you place your lure at broken railroad just when you're about to Leave. Wouldn't it have made way more sense to put a lure near the campfire so the darkwalker will walk a longer distance away from you.

[@Zaknafein]

Hi! Happy to explain. I know most people prefer to start in BI (avoid Timberwolves) or at BR or HRV as they are cul-de-sac maps. I prefer starting in DP because this allows me to take the shortcut down to the Ravine and BI, skipping the rope. HRV (and Milton) are tough maps, but before I did the run I sat down with the world map and tried to figure out the fastest route alternatives. My route was not the route that covered the least amount of maps to traverse, but it did allow for the most shortcuts (in my opinion). I had also just done ATDS with a similar route and wanted to try it out on Darkwalker. With regards to the lures - yes, placing it near the fire would have better. The reason I didn't do that is because I sprint and pass time, which causes the lure timer to decrease. After doing this a few times, the lure expires, so therefore I often did not see the point of them. In BR specifically, the Darkwalker was very close and there was a risk of running right into him, which is both dangerous and it prevents passing time to sprint. So I just placed a lure to ensure that I wouldn't die. I also started the run hoping to do it without any lures, but realized halfway through that it wasn't possible (it is possible to do, of course, but it slows you down). Hope that clarifies.

[@ScorpiogiroN26624]

Exactly... I don't understand why run... For that's it's better a videogame of atletics sports!!

[@veliostv9089]

Haven't played TLD in quite a while but will soon start again, when it's getting colder round here. Looking forward to season 4. Impressive run, kind sir :)

[@Kun2112]

Fantastic run! I wish I knew the map 10% as well as you do

[@TheSquidworm]

That was a wild ride and so well done. Congrats on the world record!

[@fifia3758]

Wow, well done!! Would also like to see a commentary version but for suspense was great to see one without too. The background ambience and score for Escape the Darkwalker is so creepy, in a good way. Big fan of the game here and slowly getting better, can't imagine pulling off a run like this though! Very nice :)

[@DraconicWealth]

We can only imagine how frustrated the Darkwalker would be with you after this run... especially considering the times you cheekily ran right past it!

[@MAG_agent1337]

Timestamp?

[@pamlange7289]

This flare gun finish hat become a nice personally thing in your walkthroughs... And this was breathtaking... Run, Astrid, RUN!! 💨💥👹

[@TheGamingCrow]

I haven't started this challenge yet (a shame after about 1400 hours of playing time, according to steam), but judging by your video the Darkwalker moves in RL-speed (at the begining), not ingame-Speed. If that'd be true, it'd take a lot of pressure off for me to finally start the challenge. I mean, I know the maps (not as good you do, but...), but my main concern was the speed the DW is moving at.

[@Zaknafein]

DW is the only challenge based on real time, yes.

[@rubo009]

I want to try it by myself but i know i gonna die xD Edit: Nice wr, was insane 😁

[@northsaskhunter_8536]

I followed along with this speed run and I was finally able to beat this challenge. Not nearly as quick as you, but I'm still proud with my 2hrs 59min run.

[@Zaknafein]

Great job!

[@faikerdogan2802]

İ didn't even understand the logic of this challenge lol

[@p0neh1]

Can someone explain why they keep passing time for an hour? What's the benefit?

[@Zaknafein]

It recharges stamina. This challenge goes by real time and not ingame time

[@p0neh1]

@@Zaknafein Ohh, right. That makes sense!

[@peabuddie]

I don't understand why you kept waiting for an hour. I may be dense but I don't get it. If you happen to see this, would you mind explaining please? thank you.

[@Zaknafein]

Are you talking about passing time? It recharges the sprint meter

[@I_will_need_you]

Wow, I'd never known about this challenge mode. Your run looks very well-thought and executed perfectly. My respect to you, waterfall-senpai :)

[@Bearmauler]

And I thought I was good with 4 hours and 51 minutes Edit : I lowered time to 3 hours and 56 minutes today

[@sharkie1913]

why do you keep passing time?

[@Zaknafein]

To recharge sprint

[@littlefurnace]

Amazing job :D Seems like a weird oversight that the devs made the DW/wards/pass time work in real time rather than in-game time. Lucky for speedrunners though!

[@nicolassy1927]

This deserves more views

[@MainDuiker]

This time is really fast. 🏃 Gonna have to check out this route. I don't think the perfect speedrun exists so you're always gonna feel it can be faster. But it seems that you're really starting to optimize this run. Great work, sir.

[@cagdas_demir_albayrak]

Either The timberwolves has now a teleporting ability or i am just suuuuuppper unlucky... after i climbed down from the rope. They just appeared out of thin air... Not a fair challenge because of the artificial difficulty now.

[@janetmaunsell5710]

Wow….I didn’t know you could get down to the Bleak Inlet entrance from the bridge up above 👏

[@omgsolikevalleygirl]

how is it there are no "sprayned ankles" in this maneuver: 20:00 - you don't seem to be "crouching", which is what usually do in these occasions

[@Zaknafein]

Oh you can get sprains, and its the #1 destroyer of speedruns like Hunted. It is rng, but in most challenges the risk is fairly low. In speedruns you are also very light, so there is less chance of sprains.

[@raubertochter2457]

Second or third time watching this video and I am still fairly impressed! However, I don't understand the logic of placing a ward next to the lure ( 47:30 ish) an running right off? An explanation would be very nice since I keep scrambling my brain over this. :'D

[@Zaknafein]

The idea was that the ward protects the lure, but the ward only protects when you are near it. In this case it mostly stalled the DW for a little, though it would have been better to do the ward first

[@raubertochter2457]

ah good to know. I thought, I misunderstood something. Thanks for responding! :) @@Zaknafein

[@Lithar1987]

hey, please play 50% brightness with max time on a given map (until the appearance of toxic fog). I recommend it, great fun

[@Autumn_IK]

"I recommend watching a x2 playback..." ha ha... 1h 51 looking at him, and now I'm going for the 3 hour video :) *_Good run !!!!_*

[@jayst]

46:55 I nearly crapped my pants

[@ScReamOut93]

I dont know alot about this game mode, but why was sleeping at 1:43:30 not an option? There wasn't a lack of calories.

[@Zaknafein]

Because sprinting with stims is faster :)

[@ScReamOut93]

Okay. Thanks

[@thedibgo3308]

I just lasted 1hr and 17min because i fell through the rail road

[@kristians.9349]

Why do you pass time so often? What is the benefit of that?

[@Zaknafein]

You recharge sprint right away. This is the only challenge that uses real time, so how much ingame time that passes is irrelevant

[@kristians.9349]

@@Zaknafein Makes sense. Brilliant "exploit" :D

[@katinwelly]

@@Zaknafein I’ve never seen anyone do that before, brilliant!

[@OneRandomDolly]

Imagine forgetting to press record

[@JohnTheRevelat0r]

You make this look really easy LOL

[@mirceaionescu960]

I should probably know this, but what was the reasoning behind unequipping the clothing round 30:00? Did it have something to do with falling in the ice?

[@Zaknafein]

No, it was because they reduce sprint meter (the red in the meter). I took them off to sprint longer. Put them back on if too cold.

[@beetleb3657]

He going for a record. No time to talk.

[@charly1363]

que maestro. felicidades genio!!!!!

[@andrewdenton4039]

jesus christ how horrifying

[@decay09]

congrats on wr! your long dark videos are always a blast to watch

[@TheFiat124spider]

How did the DW break the Lure at 48:22? I thought if you dropped a Ward next to a Lure it would keep him there for a while because he cant get to the Lure through the Ward?

[@Zaknafein]

Wards only work when you are near them. Afterwards they become inactive. Its only active when its white and not partially greyed out.

[@TheFiat124spider]

@@Zaknafein Thanks for clarifying that. I rarely use them when playing DW but it's something I had heard about but not really tried.

[@mikaellydman9887]

what is, name.

[@Crysoft2]

Awesome run, I would like a version with commentary :)

[@perpetuality1293]

Great run and congratulations on the record!

[@unworthy.potato]

Skillz

How many attempts and hours of trying to achieve this?

[@Zaknafein]

This was actually the 2nd attempt :)

@@Zaknafein Now I'm impressed!

[@omgsolikevalleygirl]

what is the purpose of "passing time" e.g. 8:21 or 9:37

[@omgsolikevalleygirl]

a... i get it. it is to keep "running"

[@Zaknafein]

@@omgsolikevalleygirl Thats right :)

[@schleusnerr]

Came to the comments for the same question lol

[@LegendaryBeaner]

Amazing congrats on the record!

[@FlashDAH]

Pretty annoyed you looked away at the end... why deny us seeing it approach at the end?

[@Zaknafein]

It was to shoot the flare. You didnt miss anything because the Darkwalker is invisible - there's just footprints on the ground. I will keep this in mind for next time, though :)

[@SFCgunny]

LOL...world records in a fucking video game

[@Zaknafein]

All video games have world records :)

[@dickdangle914]

Awesome run