When players decide they fancy a bit of a challenge, many will turn to the speedrunning community. With the likes of Elden Ring being completed in mere minutes, there is ample opportunity, as well as a slew of titles out there, to have a go at a speedrun. While some are content with newer releases, immediately jumping on the chance to run games once they come out, some will take a look back over the years at more classic titles, such as 2001's Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
In a recent video uploaded to YouTube, user Hero5k has managed to set a new world record by completing the retro id Software game in a time of 49:13. What's even more impressive about this run is that they managed to achieve such a time in the 100% category. This meant that, not only did they get to the end of Return to Castle Wolfenstein at lightning speed, they did so while also finding every secret, and collecting every hidden treasure. The run has been added to the list on Speedrun.com, so it stands to reason that it's been verified.
The run itself is very impressive, with some quick maneuvering that helps shave off milliseconds. There were a couple of mistakes which lost the runner a bit of time, so it's likely that Hero5k will make another attempt to see if they can beat their current record. At more than 20-years-old, it's a video game that has aged in terms of its graphics, but that's just something that happens as the technology evolves over the years. It's still a solid game, with many considering it a classic, and it received some pretty solid scores upon release.
On top of that, Wolfenstein 3D recently turned 30, with one of the game's original creators, John Romero, wishing it a happy birthday on Twitter. It's pretty incredible to think that 2001's RtCW is now considered retro, when it's actually still pretty young when compared to the 1992 release. In fact, even that entry is ten years younger than the first installment in the series, with CastleWolfenstein launching in 1981, making it one of the longest running franchises in gaming history.
However, it was Wolfenstein 3D that helped birth the FPS genre, with the likes of Doom popularizing it a year later. In general, the Wolfenstein series has had a pretty significant impact on the industry over the decades, and the fact that people like Hero5k are speedrunning the older ones shows that they are still beloved to this day.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein was released in 2001, and is available on PC, PS2, and Xbox.