So yesterday I messed around with this game a bit.

Our reference route for any% was this run by "Unimaginative Handle" () The problem is that their strats are super inconsistent, so I had to find out how we could still run this route, without having a reset heavy run solely dependent on luck.

Like I said, yesterday I found a new way to get out of bounds in the prologue. Probably slightly slower than the old technique (even though I'm not that certain) but WAY more consistent.

Then today I started tackling the BIG ONE, Fence skip. The way Unimaginative Handle does it is optimal but neither Doodletones or I could replicate it consistently. So I found a new way to do it. Just rub against the invisible wall and when you reach the edge of the rock it should shoot you up. I don't know what effects height although I suspect that when rubbing against the wall you must be accumulating speed that then gets transfered to upwards mouvement when you get shot up.

Then I found a brand new skip, called "Epilogue skip" that allows the player to avoid watching the 2 minutes cutscene before accessing the safe at the top of the epilogue tower. In the video I line myself up aligned with the staircase handlebar, then I orient myself towards the begining of the letter N, lock my orientation with RightMouseButton, then rub against the edge of the staircase

So you know there are three "short" cutscenes at the beginning of the game:

• the first one is when you open the first gate
• the second one is when after the first gate a quote appears on screen
• the third one is the one with the goofy looking teleporting kid after the second gate.

According to my approximate calculations, these take up about 40 to 50 seconds.

I've just found a way to skip that by shooting up in the air above these cutscene triggers. I've messed around A LOT with it and I've got to say it's been quite a pain to figure out a "setup" that worked for me. Here it is:

It's important to note that you can get enough air to get to the first out of bounds section of the Any% run (in the water) but it's super inconsistent. The amount of air I can get consistently is basically the one showcased in the run linked above. I find it easier to jump in the secret area and avoid the cutscene triggers than to try and get enough air to go out of bounds in the ocean to get to the crawling kid section of the run.

@Doodletones

Prologue Skip

Here is the line up. Don't forget to lock your camera angle after lining up The sweet spot that launches you on this rock is like two thirds of the way on the right so make sure you rub yourself against that spot back and forth a few times before giving up.

To put things in context: Time from the moment you pick up the cane on the beach to when you walk past the barrel where the kid sits before the cutscene:

• the normal way = 1 minute and 22 seconds
• prologue skip with 5 retries (in my WR) = 44 seconds

So with 5 retries I still saved 38 seconds. Don't give up on the trick after a first try or you'll just never get it. :)

EDIT (4 hours later): Found consistent line ups for all of the jumps.

Using this pole is indeed faster than going out of bounds at the shack and stone fence. I use this lineup and strafe into the pole from right to left. I get shot up above the lighting pole and can get out of bounds quite easily; although some parts of the collission geometry can give you trouble sometimes.

• Fence skip This is the one I tried the least amount of times, but got consistent results on 5 successive tries.

Hi again @Doodletones ! So yesterday was a weird one in terms of MM theorycrafting and pathing. I managed to find new setups and finally optimize Fence skip and Epilogue skip.

1] Fence skip & Brennan's Folly skip So like you said Doodle, my way of doing Fence skip is slower than UnimaginativeHandle's. I agree, but since my way was more consistent, we didn't mind. Well actually, I did mind. It was slower and I also wanted to try to find a way to skip the 18 seconds Brennan's Folly small cutscene that plays as you approach the tower. The setup is the same as before (the previous Fence skip). I get consistent air with this setup, but make sure you rub against the invisible wall on the left before getting to the "jumping spot". Practice it a bunch to get a feel for the height you need to clear the gap between the beach and the tower on top of the cliff. So here is the lineup

And here is what area you should aim for

And here is the video showcasing the Fence skip and Brennan's Folly custcene skip (FBF skip) FOR THE RETURN TRIP, because you still need to avoid the cutscene trigger, you can use the Epilogue skip setup and hope you get enough air to turn back and clear the cutscene between you and the gate. IF YOU GET WAY MORE AIR THAN NEEDED, you can try clearing the cove below and get back on the beach. That's the most optimal way of doing things although getting enough height here is a STRUGGLE (even for me). That's what I manage to get first try in my 7:54 PB

2] Prologue skip So I found a new way to do the Prologue skip. Two things about it: you get more air than the old Prologue skip; it is as inconsistent as the old one. Since you get more air, you are able to directly get to the out of bounds portion of the run. However, you get a lot of air, but 50% of the time it's barely not enough (which is frustrating). So here is where I wedge myself

Here is what the lineup looks like (it's not an exact science, you can try very slightly offsetting this lineup to the right or the left; and I mean VERY SLIGHTLY)

And here is what you should aim for once you're in the air: the white patch that's on the right of the wooden gate. (WARNING: it happens quite often that you don't get enough air and just don't go far enough and get stuck in geometry)

Here is the video showcasing the trick

3] Epilogue skip This skip is exactly the same as the FBF skip except you want to land on top of the tower (make sure to not land to close to the gate (you can still trigger the cutscene by walking by the gate) Here is the video (I fail the landing in the video, but it doesn't matter :D)

4] A quick word about my PB Now that I've explained every new trick, you can understand what happened in my unreproducible PB.

At 2:04 I go for the New Prologue Skip, but I don't get enough air to make it to the white patch I mentionned before; but for some unknown reason I land on geometry that shoots me right back up and avoids the reset. This is not the first time the game randomly shoots me up like that but that was the first time here.

At 4:23 I fuck up the rock climb once.

At 5:11 I don't get enough air to clear the FBF skip

At 6:00 I go for the Brennan's Folly skip to jump above the cutscene trigger back to the gate you open with the key. I botch it several times but once I get it I think I get enough air to clear the gap to the beach so I go for it. It turns out that it's not enough but to make sure I try to get back on the beach (if you hit an invisible wall that means you're still out of bounds and the run is dead). And FOR SOME UNKOWN REASON, I get shot back up again like for Prologue skip. Putting me and my mediocre run back in the game. I've tried reproducing this jump but of course nothing happened in both spots.

An finally at 7:43, the new Epilogue skip SHOTS ME TO THE MOON, so it takes ages to end the run.

I still get a new WR at 8:29 but my god, two things in this run are unreproducible and the rest is scuffed as hell.

Shoot me a message if you have any questions