I know the video is a bit lacking in info/context regarding what's going on, but that's kinda on purpose. the work is far from done (for this skip), but I've stopped recording and quickly put together what you see, because the new strat proved to be faster than the normal route. this is obviously far from perfect, so the new strat can be optimized further, or maybe another route exists, to reach the same checkpoint, or another one farther down the path (with or without death warp) who knows!? ... so, I encourage everyone to try it on your own even if you don't make it faster than normal right away

context for the new route:

• • climb the jetbox and drop next to it, to get as far into the foreground as possible
• (unfortunately this is not enough to go right straight away)
• • tap walk left as fast as possible, but staying enough into the foreground to reach a certain ledge
• • climb down the invisible ledge and do a pushback into the foreground as fast and far as possible
• • tap walk right fast, and stay enough into the foreground to reach the ledge on the right side of the jetbox
• • once you drop, hold left and swim to the next checkpoint trigger (needs practice to get it right)
• • when respawning with the submersible next to the button, the dolphin jump seems to be the fastest strat

GL

NEW Piston Cycle \o/ ... You can manipulate the trigger and get a different cycle, which ends up faster than normal by almost 2 seconds. Full COMPARISON in the second part of the video (Normal VS NEW piston - with visualization of the piston behavior for both strats). NOTE that the early piston can still be done, but it becomes much harder with the new cycle.

At the end of the underwater cutscene, it is possible to exploit the load-chapter system, since the kid triggers the next checkpoint on his way down, and this way it is possible to reach the turbine sooner and potentially get the early cycle (NOTE: this strat is NOT valid/legal in speedruns ... yet)

Video Comparison: NORMAL (best & worst turbine) vs EXPLOIT (1 cycle & bail out)

• The risky strat saves 20 sec compared to the fastest normal strat.
• The safe strat saves 4 sec ... and a death & respawn is 4 sec slower.

This video shows how to clip directly to Big Room and skip the elevator movement completely. The second part of the video shows a full comparison between FlingBox +Elevator +1boxPiston glitch VS BigRoomClip +minicave +ParSwitch.

Compared to a normal run, the BIgRoomClip saves over 40 seconds.

This is the full optimization of Dark route and Big room (single segment):

Compared to the best Dark route segments ever posted on the leaderboard, this new optimization can save 2 full piston cycles (over 20 seconds skip)... also, just for fun, I included the most optimal big room possible (in theory) and it could save up to 1 minute overall, when getting first try 1BoxPiston glitch (see the end of the video).

Guide:

1. Climb on top of the Scaffold by only holding UP;
2. Slow-walk on top using very short TAPS right;
3. Climb DOWN into a dangle, without any other input, and wait;
4. When the head looks up, drop DOWN and survive. (this is when the character is at the lowest position during the dangle, you can only survive the drop at this moment)

This video shows the NEW Mine Door Skip using the freak pushback. It can save over 1 minute in comparison with Minecart skip (previous best strat).

As soon as I figured out Water skip , I immediately knew that we could skip the big cart in the Mine using the same freaks pickup glitch ... and here it is \o/ not only possible , but also consistent ... but this particular skip is more complex , because it involves another position manipulation using the cart itself - the trick is to do a few walk-offs with late cancels next to the cart , and for some reason the position of the kid goes higher and higher , and eventually you can reach the top ledge .

This skip saves ~20seconds compared to the normal way . It was found by accident by a casual player ( here's the clip : ) , but with the effort of our speedrunning community we managed to figure it out and make it consistent \o/

The idea behind this skip is that the position of the character is a bit higher after you perform a certain cancel drop from the hands of the freaks ... which allows us to barely reach the button (thus skipping the need to lower the water and swim on the ceiling)

this video shows that you don't need to exit the game in order to get the Fuse Glitch in Hospital ... by not accessing the Main Menu beforehand, and going on a slightly different route than the quitting method

A while back I posted a video of a potential big skip in the Mine ... by using the dead body and a group of freaks you can do a certain ghost grab and manipulate both the elevator and the dead body simultaneously ... here's the full video :

but recently I tried this idea again , and I was able to survive on the other side of the door ... this video shows how the "NecroMineSkip" works , and the outcome after skipping the door :

this skip saves up to ~3min compared to a normal Mine run (and if it happens to fail, a second try can also save time, about ~1min)

going straight to the blob saves over 1min30sec \o/ ... this gradual pushback at the glass completely skips the need to go around the big tank where the blob is ... no more 1 cycle lamp , grate clip , crane + ladder , and tank door to deal with \o/

This is the new Safe & Mind puzzles OoB skip. Using a gradual pushback, we can now bypass the ladder and drop on the train tracks, skipping the entire Safe and Mind Helmet section / puzzles. Here's the video with the new strat and full comparison :

since the wall climb is so broken, the puzzles can be completely ignored, so you don't have to play as intended at all ... and it would kinda make sense to have separate main categorie as "any%" (anything is allowed) and "glitchless" (where the goal is to play the game as intended - with stuff like OoB and inventory bugs banned) ... just a thought :)

Here's a fast way to unlock the gate in the City :

for this strat, you need to step on each pressure plate twice without stepping on the next one ... it's a bit tricky, since you have to turn around between pressure plates, but it's not very hard ... and with a bit of practice, you can get a good feel for it

Here's a strat I came up with, and I've been using it in my runs for such a long time ... I had to rethink the whole approach, because using audio cues is not reliable, PLUS - allowing the janitor to move slightly right before the air-grab will introduce a few more variables into the mix ... so my solution was to basically move the strat as far left as possible, so that the janitor will always be in the same position when the bait occurs ... and lucky enough, the location where you have to wait is easy to line up (using a specific railroad tie), AND the moment when to react is also very easy to follow (based on the door behind the janitor. start to run and jump right exactly when the door shuts)

This is a consistent method for delaying the dogs , giving you more time to rip the boards off in 1 cycle .

Part 1 : The NEW strat (full segment) ; Part 2 : Visual cues & Inputs (x0.5 speed) ; Part 3 : Favourable outcomes (4 cases) ; Part 4 : Undesirable outcome (slope boost too far) .

This video shows the NEW Route in Kitchen, for the Nomes & Statues category. part 1 - The NEW route; part 2 - Comparison : NEW vs. OLD vs. BACKUP.

NOTE 1 : The ideal situation is to NOT get a chef chase at all - this allows you to safely go for the last nome (the hallway is cleared and the bathroom door is open by the time you come back) NOTE 2 : If you get a chef chase, the backup is to respawn at the checkpoint bellow (after exiting the elevator) - this way the hallway and the door are reset and you can safely go up for the last nome.