Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
0:00 - the first skip happens in the second fight of the level. After the zombies appear, leave the fight and instead get use an elusive height-gaining technique on the side of the barrier-forming monolith.
Basically, Matt's turning animation has some unique properties. It has an unusual amount of force, allowing you to push level objects like barrels quite easily. Besides that, turning against sloped surfaces makes Matt himself gain height a bit. With precise L-stick movement you can chain together the turning action while you're already in air, allowing you to gain even more height.
A semi-consistent setup for getting a good turn is to first hold L-stick forward to do a normal run against some object, then quickly rotate L-stick around counter-clockwise. Wait a bit, then do more rotations at a specific timing to do chain together some height gain. It's still not 100% consistent, and it can be especially hard to get against only slightly sloped surfaces like these monoliths.
0:40 - you can optionally also skip the third fight inside the bath house, although I'm not sure if it's worth it in a speedrun. To do this, you have to do another "hover" using another monolith, this time even higher than before.
Using this route would be quite powerful if it weren't for the fact that there's still one barrier awaiting at the top of the stairs leading to Dexter's apartment, and you can't get rid of that without fighting all the subsequent enemy waves in the area. Just going ahead to this barrier and fighting the nearby enemies out of order may even get you stuck. So it seems to be the best to just run to the other side of the bath house to hit some triggers and continue on like normal from there.
1:32 - after having met Dexter and exiting his house, backtracking through the area the intended way causes a fight with several waves to begin. This can be avoided by sticking to the higher ground, going to the other end of the yard and going around another fight barrier.
However, if you try to get to the bath house now, it's just unloaded. The unloaded void is a little like a black hole - once you touch it, it's impossible to leave. Curious!
2:28 - you need to hit a loading zone, which seems to be around the place where there's the Maximum Hazard power-up. Going back to the bath house now, it loads properly and all the fights begin as usual.
You need to defeat all the enemies to make the barrier in front of the stairs leading down to vanish.
Fun fact: the barrier of the 2nd fight you skipped earlier still exists once you backtrack down the stairs, but the game promptly shuts it off when you approach. Convenient.
3:09 - bonus clip. There are at least two places where you can fall completely off the map in the level. If you do so, Matt just gets stuck infinitely falling against the bottom of the map. No way to leave, so you got to retry. You can blow yourself up to retry if you have a grenade launcher, although that's not 100% reliable either, since your firing animation can also glitch up while OoB.
0:00 - the first skip happens in the second fight of the level. After the zombies appear, leave the fight and instead get use an elusive height-gaining technique on the side of the barrier-forming monolith.
Basically, Matt's turning animation has some unique properties. It has an unusual amount of force, allowing you to push level objects like barrels quite easily. Besides that, turning against sloped surfaces makes Matt himself gain height a bit. With precise L-stick movement you can chain together the turning action while you're already in air, allowing you to gain even more height.
A semi-consistent setup for getting a good turn is to first hold L-stick forward to do a normal run against some object, then quickly rotate L-stick around counter-clockwise. Wait a bit, then do more rotations at a specific timing to do chain together some height gain. It's still not 100% consistent, and it can be especially hard to get against only slightly sloped surfaces like these monoliths.
0:40 - you can optionally also skip the third fight inside the bath house, although I'm not sure if it's worth it in a speedrun. To do this, you have to do another "hover" using another monolith, this time even higher than before.
Using this route would be quite powerful if it weren't for the fact that there's still one barrier awaiting at the top of the stairs leading to Dexter's apartment, and you can't get rid of that without fighting all the subsequent enemy waves in the area. Just going ahead to this barrier and fighting the nearby enemies out of order may even get you stuck. So it seems to be the best to just run to the other side of the bath house to hit some triggers and continue on like normal from there.
1:32 - after having met Dexter and exiting his house, backtracking through the area the intended way causes a fight with several waves to begin. This can be avoided by sticking to the higher ground, going to the other end of the yard and going around another fight barrier.
However, if you try to get to the bath house now, it's just unloaded. The unloaded void is a little like a black hole - once you touch it, it's impossible to leave. Curious!
2:28 - you need to hit a loading zone, which seems to be around the place where there's the Maximum Hazard power-up. Going back to the bath house now, it loads properly and all the fights begin as usual.
You need to defeat all the enemies to make the barrier in front of the stairs leading down to vanish.
Fun fact: the barrier of the 2nd fight you skipped earlier still exists once you backtrack down the stairs, but the game promptly shuts it off when you approach. Convenient.
3:09 - bonus clip. There are at least two places where you can fall completely off the map in the level. If you do so, Matt just gets stuck infinitely falling against the bottom of the map. No way to leave, so you got to retry. You can blow yourself up to retry if you have a grenade launcher, although that's not 100% reliable either, since your firing animation can also glitch up while OoB.
