I don't think in game time by itself is a good way to measure for this game. When you die, the game reloads the last save, not counting the time in between the last save and the death.

I also think the difficulty setting of the game (which is "Middle" by default on the EU version) should be specified in the rules. This option only appears to be available after the game has been beaten once.

I realize this game isn't the most actively run game in the world, but I'm going to start submitting runs in the next few days.

My logic for setting in game time was to level the playing field for PAL users in the event of poor optimisation. Apparently, Story of Thor 2 is optimised for near to the same speed, and I'll try testing this myself if possible over the coming weeks. If it is similar speed, then I can switch it to prioritise real time - but I would like to keep in game time regardless.

Difficulty wise, I'd be interested to know if there is any major differences or if its just enemy stats / number of enemies. I think speedrunning wise easiest difficultly is traditionally the quickest so is generally preferred. If there is any major differences in difficulties then there is the possibility of just adding the other difficulties as other categories.

That makes sense. I'd appreciate testing this. I've played a bit on both PAL and NTSC, and I didn't notice any difference, but I didn't get to play on PAL for very long. If there's anything I can do to help you test let me know!

I'll look into what the differences are in difficulties.