Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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This is a TAS, or tool-assisted speedrun. It was made using tools such as slowdown, frame advance, and savestates, and is not meant to compete with real runs but is solely for entertainment. This category name may not make much sense at first glance, so I will try to make some sense out of it:

- Pacifist: Don't kill anything. This game has built in pacifist mechanics so this isn't just some arbitrary restriction the community made up, you can see the pacifist line on the journal at the end of the run.

- Chain: You must do the "intended" method of getting to Sunken City instead of doing any funny skips. You are required to pick up the Hedjet/Crown, Ankh, Tablet of Destiny, and bring the Ushabti with Qilin in it to 6-3. The Udjat Eye may optionally be collected.

- No%: This is a combination of a couple of things. Firstly, this is a No Gold subcategory, so you are not allowed to pick up any gold at any point during the run. Secondly, this is also a Low% subcategory, meaning you have the resources and health you start with and nothing else. (i.e. no jetpack, no paste, no bomb bags, no extra health, no riding tamed mounts, no shooting shotguns (though holding one is allowed), etc.) Thirdly, you must finish the run with all of your starting resources (end the run with a 4/4/4 resource count). Since this is also a Chain run, swinging the Excalibur is ONLY allowed on the Abzu level, and taking all 4 damage in 1 frame with the Ankh is also allowed.

- Eggplant: Go to Eggplant World and collect the Eggplant Crown.

- Abzu: You are required to do the chain through the Tide Pool route (you may go to either Volcana or Jungle, whichever one you wish).


About a year ago, I made a TAS of this category on this seed. I was itching to make some sort of TAS, and rewatching that TAS made me want to redo it as there was a ton of room for improvement, so here is what I was able to do. There is still room for improvement, notably 1-4 (by getting better backlayer skip rng), any level with climbing (chains, tide pool poles, etc. as it's incredibly difficult to optimize), the levels with scarabs (by getting better rng to have them not be in the way), 7-4 (potentially some faster strat I missed), and many other levels have a couple frames you could still shave off. Either way, I'm pretty happy with how much I've improved the TAS!

Seed: 8EF6272F

TAS tool used (made by Cosine256): https://spelunky.fyi/mods/m/tas-wizard/

TAS "leaderboard" for easily finding TASes: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-fEITRpwkfkbBesV1jAQbjmlJWV_MRdTwEpOHjfaIkc/edit?usp=sharing

Old TAS: youtu.be/jxZCVL97FC8

Timesaves compared to old TAS:

1-1: 15.366 ➡ 14.633 (-0.733)
1-2: 17.833 ➡ 15.650 (-2.183)
1-3: 23.383 ➡ 22.500 (-0.833)
1-4: 17.350 ➡ 16.966 (-0.383)
2-1: 9.900 ➡ 9.733 (-0.167)
2-2: 11.266 ➡ 10.750 (-0.516)
2-3: 31.633 ➡ 28.250 (-3.383)
2-4: 5.750 ➡ 5.450 (-0.300)
3-1: 1:46.766 ➡ 1:39.050 (-7.716)
4-1: 6.200 ➡ 6.050 (-0.150)
4-2: 16.766 ➡ 16.433 (-0.333)
4-3: 22.350 ➡ 21.516 (-0.833)
4-4: 1:49.783 ➡ 55.550 (-54.233)
5-1: 12.383 ➡ 11.733 (-0.650)
6-1: 7.083 ➡ 6.916 (-0.167)
6-2: 24.066 ➡ 21.683 (-2.383)
6-3: 7.133 ➡ 6.300 (-0.833)
6-4: 18.100 ➡ 17.616 (-0.483)
7-1: 7.366 ➡ 5.583 (-1.783)
7-2: 22.116 ➡ 18.616 (-3.500)
7-3: 20.316 ➡ 19.166 (-1.150)
7-4: 1:20.483 ➡ 1:08.250 (-12.233)

Final Times: 9:53.400 ➡ 8:18.400 (-1:35.000)