Without a doubt, the first entry in the Dark Souls franchise is generally considered to be one of the hardest video games of all time, which makes the feat of the Twitch streamer NaxHPL that much more impressive. As it so happens, the player managed to take on the initial title in the From Software action-RPG series and beat the entire game in under 4 hours while also earning all of its achievements in the process.
As seen below in the Twitch stream footage of NaxHPL's Dark Souls speedrun, the player had to go off the beaten path in order to accomplish such feats like farming the best weapon of each elemental type, joining every covenant, and even acquiring every spell and miracle. With this being the case, it should come as no surprise that most of the speedrun is focused on farming materials relying on the assistance of skips and glitches.
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For those unaware, the previous world record for this category of Dark Souls speedrunning was originally 4:02:01, but through their efforts, NaxHPL was capable of shaving a few minutes off of the original time for a set of 3:57:29. Taking this into consideration, most novice fans of the franchise will likely see almost any accomplishment they make in the game as a paltry feat by comparison.
Bearing all of this in mind, it's great to see fans still revisiting older titles and refining their skills in the games of yesteryear, especially when it comes to Dark Souls, as the action-RPG typically demands a lot out of its players. Of course, its followups in Dark Souls 2 and 3 have put fans to the test as well, with one player of the third entry – including all of its DLC – beating all bosses without taking a single hit.
Dark Souls is available now for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
