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Awesome Games Done Quick 2021 schedule includes Hades incentive

Awesome Games Done Quick 2021 is going online in January. Their full schedule has been posted and may feature the GDQ debut of breakout hit Hades.

Ozzie Mejia

November 9, 2020 8:25 PM

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Awesome Games Done Quick 2021 is just a few months away and the team behind the annual speedrunning event has released the full schedule. With COVID-19 still a major factor (and growing stronger by the day), this next event will also go fully online, like Summer Games Done Quick 2020 before it. There are a number of modern and classic games that the world's top speedrunners will be showing off, but there are also some enticing incentive bonus runs on the docket, including one for increasingly-popular roguelike Hades.

While there are some epic runs planned, there are even more exciting runs being held as incentive Bonus Games. These are the runs that are only added to the schedule after meeting a certain donation total. Tuesday could see the Games Done Quick debut of Hades, the roguelike that has taken the gaming world by storm. Runner Vorime would attempt to unlock all of the game's weapons in one hour and five minutes. Other bonus games include The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the infamous Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon on CD-i (which would kick off the annual Awful Games Done Quick block), Halo 3, a blindfolded Super Mario 64 run, and a potential week-ending run of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Here are some other runs that will be worth watching:

• Sunday will feature an exciting Main Quest Order race for Ori and the Will of the Wisps between Hetfield90 and Skarfelt. The day will end with runner Jaguar King playing through Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots on The Boss Extreme, attempting to complete it in 2:05:00.
• Monday is home to the Sonic Block and will see back-to-back-to-back-to-back runs of Sonic the Hedgehog (the Android version), the Sonic 3: Angel Island Revisited hack, Sonic Mania, and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)'s Shadow story.
• Tuesday will feature a Metroid sandwich. There's a Metroid race in the morning, which will be followed by the Mega Man Block and a Tony Hawk Block, before runner edzan plays through Metroid Prime. And that's just in the day's early hours. There are Cuphead, Left 4 Dead 2, and Resident Evil: Director's Cut runs on the docket, as well.
• Viewers on Wednesday can check out a threesome of quality classic games Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition (the Vergil run), Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. That will lead into the aforementioned Awful Games Done Quick Block.
• Thursday starts by washing the taste of the Awful Games Done Quick Block out of everyone's mouths a Link's Awakening DX (the Game Boy Color original) run. It also features the Games Done Quick debut of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
• Friday is a Nintendo bonanza, featuring a Wario Block, the Donkey Kong Country 2 Unveiled romhack, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and Super Mario Sunshine. For non-Nintendo fans, the day will also feature runs of Warcraft III: Reign in Chaos, Final Fantasy VII (the original), and Yakuza 6: The Song of Life.
• Saturday will feature GDQ's wildest Celeste run to date, as PeekingBoo attempts to run all of the game's C-Sides on PC in 20 minutes... using dance pad controllers. That's followed by the Castlevania Block.
• Saturday will also feature a special one-time-only (Thanks a bunch, Nintendo!) Battle Showcase for Super Mario Bros. 35, which sees runners authorblues, lateyourpie, Kosmic, and adef take part in the retro battle royale. The rules will be revealed at a later time.

All proceeds from AGDQ 2021 will benefit the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Check out the full schedule on the Games Done Quick website. If you don't want to wait that long for week-long speedrunning action, the all-female Fleet Fatales is set to begin this Sunday, November 15. They'll be raising money for the Malala Fund. Be sure to check out their full schedule. You can catch all of the action live on Twitch.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?