I feel like this game needs to be 100% completed by two players in sub 3:05:00. But is that possible? To answer this question, I carefully analyzed the current world record (a 3:08:36 by Bazralian and BeatMyBro101) and found the following possible timesaves:

(note: this thread will be referring to the YouTube video that Bazralian uploaded to his channel. When I mention timestamps, I'm referring to that point in the video, NOT that point in the run.)

GENERAL:

• Agree on who's doing what. I noticed a lot of miscommunication during the WR run, which ended up costing time.

• Better ghost cycles. The ghosts' movements run on a cycle, so if better cycles than the WR's can be achieved, it will save a decent amount of time.

• More Drop-Out Warps ("DOWs"). If the 2nd player is being controlled by the AI and it gets too far away from the 1st player, the 2nd player will be teleported closer to the 1st player. Try to use this aspect to save time, but keep in mind that it takes about one second to drop out.

• MORE QUICK KILLS! This is crucial when grinding for masks! Bandidos, Widows, and Weendigoes can all be quick-killed, so make sure you can get those in!

• The random TV messups at 40:48, 44:23, 46:42, and 1:11:02 were problematic, to say the least. 40:48 resulted in a 7 second timeloss from a failed Velma Terminal.

EL MUNCHO:

• Better pole climb at 17:44. Better execution could save 8 seconds.

• Try throwing the Widows' bombs back at them. I don't know how viable throwing the bouquets back at the Widows would actually be, but the bombs do deal a large amount of damage.

• That totally random BS teleport at around 24:38 was infuriating. If this could be avoided, 10 seconds could be saved.

• If both runners do the tractor skip in El Muncho, they could save time over one of the players DOWing.

• Faster El Fuego Diablo kills are a necessity (over 3 minutes in total of the run were spent fighting Diablos).

• You don't have to pull out the crate at 41:35 and 1:00:37. There's enough space on the crate to jump from the edge of the crate to one of the pegs sticking out of the top of the building.

• In the El Scaryachi fight, take advantage of his water guns in phase 3 to kill the Bandidos (and get more masks) faster.

• 59:55 is a great example of ideal Velma Terminal RNG. I'll be honest, I've never had four of the same color in a row.

• When grinding for masks in Costington's mansion, head to the upper floor balcony to get a few more Widow masks.

• Find a better time to get the Widow picture than right before the 100th one despawns.

HOWLING PEAKS:

• Try throwing that electric box thing at its place in the cabin instead of just placing it there at 1:26:58 or any other visits to that cabin.

• From 1:34:34 to 1:35:37, one of the runners are taking a pee break (I think). This could have resulted in missed co-op strats.

• A little memory mistake at 1:37:40 cost about 4 seconds.

• You can actually get the Yeti picture at 1:40:49 if your reflexes are sharp enough, although I'm not sure if it's any faster than the WR.

• Both runners got knocked flat at 1:49:17, costing roughly 2 seconds.

• There's a random glitch (seen in the WR run at 1:52:04 and 1:52:36) that freezes enemies when you get too far away from them, making them invincible. This happened while fighting some Snowmeans twice in a row. The glitch ended up costing about 64 seconds total. (Fun fact: at the time of this typing, this is the biggest timeloss in the entire run.)

• During the Yeti chase, a death at 1:55:41 cost about 20 seconds.

• I'm not positive if the save and quit warp at 2:01:55 saved time over walking. I'll have to look into it more.

• One of the runners was absent from 2:11:49 to 2:12:55. This could have resulted in missed co-op strats.

• Selecting the correct suspect after a boss fight (like the runners in the WR did after the yeti fight) is around 2 seconds slower.

• A little goof at 2:33:23 cost 6 seconds.

• A failed DOW at around 2:38:48 cost roughly 1 second.

• Maybe if some of the Lurker grinding was done earlier in the run than when it was, it could be finished faster.

• When the runners are grinding for Snowmean masks, why didn't they fight that Snowmean at 2:45:06 more often? I could vaguely hear something about cycles, but the audio quality isn't the best.

• A less-than-optimal save and quit warp at 2:51:47 cost about 1 second. (I know I might be looking into this a bit too much, but any timesave that doesn't require frame perfection is a good timesave in my book)

• Missing the electric box thing at 3:00:48 and having to go back for it cost around 2 seconds.

• This random thing with the Frankenmoose at 3:01:32 not charging cost around 13 seconds.

THE SWAMP:

• Failing to get the Philippe picture multiple times cost the runners about 9 seconds total.

• The runners lost around 40 seconds to the Swamp ghost at 2:20:07.

• A missed cycle in Suji phase 2 resulted in an 8 second timeloss.

• Falling off the pier at 3:07:16 and having to DOW at 3:07:22 cost about 2 seconds total.

• When throwing the gunpowder barrels at the vines at 3:10:00 and at 3:10:25, the runners ended up missing them, costing 42 seconds total.

• The medallion at 3:11:41 can in fact be gotten at 1:16:18 with the help of a pickupable item (like the gunpowder barrels). If you have better 3:11:10 medallion execution than the runners did, you can save a total of 30 seconds since you don't have to go back for the 3:11:41 medallion.

Total possible timesave: ~4 minutes, 38 seconds End Time: ~3:03:58

So yes, sub 3:05 is possible. If anyone has other ideas on how to bring this time lower, let me know.

Oh damn, that's really cool that you spent the time to do this :) A sub 3 hour run is most likely possible now that we have much faster strats to do the grinding parts at the end of each world. Sadly I am in college right now and away from my brother, but we're gonna try to squeeze out sub 3 over the break :)

Wait, you guys found faster grinding strats? What are they?

So in El Muncho there is a minigame in the upper town where you can easily quick kill enemies and get tons of masks. This saves time on that boss too. Then we found that we don't need to keep reloading howling peaks to get masks there and can take the lift instead.

Yo, that's insane! I'll try to figure out how much time that saves!

Feel free to join the discord so that you can communicate with us there :)