Dragon's Dogma 2 speedrunner proves the game's most powerful strat is cardio by sprinting through the game in under 2 hours wearing just his undies

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(Image credit: Infected Durian on YouTube / Capcom)

An image of a Dragon�s Dogma 2 arisen, Durian, in the buff - standing among the ruins of Melve.

“Today I thought we’d do something a little bit different and do a fists-only, no armour speedrun of Dragon’s Dogma 2,” announces streamerInfected Durian, before embarking on a shockingly short journey in his skivvies through the lands of Vernworth and beyond (thanks,GamesRadar).

There’s a few reasons why he’s able to pull this off. First up, while Dragon’s Dogma 2 has a NG+ system, monsters won’t actually scale with your level. Despite having zero protection from the elements or axes flung his way, turns out that the laws of physics in DD2 are stats-driven: If you die when you’re stabbed, you just didn’t get on that grindset enough.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 has a pseudo-Breath of the Wild structure where (aside from a few main story quests) the game is mostly about running from place to place, meaning you can sprint through most of it with no repercussions. And because of that aforementioned lack of scaling, NG+ is especially vulnerable to a good ol' marathon, whether you’re buck-naked or armed to the teeth.

Because I’m a stickler for technicalities, his characterdoesdon clothes a couple of times. Once during a flashback sequence, and another when he’s asked to attend the coronation. In fairness, that’s mandatory for the main questline, despite the fact that (spoilers) you never make it into the damn place before your pawn gets a headache and takes their Rift-issued sick day at the worst possible moment.

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None of this matters, though—because at around 58 minutes, Infected Durian’s Arisen clings to a Troll’s face and bludgeons it to death with his bare hands, which makes me want to keep quiet out of fear he’ll do the same thing to me. I didn’t see anything, man, carry on.

Infected Durian finished his playthrough in one hour, 42 minutes, and 32 seconds—only having to use a wakestone on himself 22 times. I’ve been playing Dragon’s Dogma 2 with armour on this whole time, and I’m pretty sure I’ve died more than that, so maybe he’s onto something.

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