Speedrunning a game as vast and as difficult as Dark Souls 3 is an impressive feat all on its own, and it becomes even more impressive when the runner manages to do so while avoiding all enemy damage. However, while there are plenty of female streamers who enjoy speedrunning Dark Souls 3, one streamer, who goes by the streaming handle Suzie, noticed a while back that there weren’t any recorded instances of a woman streamer achieving a coveted “no-hit” run…so she decided to do one herself.
Suzie, who is based in Norway, first began her no-hit Dark Souls 3 run way back in October of 2017. It was a grueling process to be sure since Dark Souls 3 is already a painfully brutal game even if you’re not trying to speedrun it. Not only is the final Dark Souls entry infamously difficult (as all Dark Souls games are), it can also be quite long, taking even the most dedicated and skilled speedrunners several hours to work through, and that’s if they’re not going for a no-hit run. Consistently speedrunning a game like Dark Souls 3 can be both mentally and physically taxing, but Suzie was undeterred, and last week she finally reached her goal: the first recorded instance of a female streamer finishing a no-hit run of Dark Souls 3.
When she finally lit the last bonfire of her no-hit run, Suzie was naturally ecstatic, the sheer emotional euphoria of what she had accomplished causing her to break down in tears of joy. Her happiness was likely bolstered by the outpouring of support she received both from her viewers and from other streamers such as the affluent megastreamer Sodapoppin. In a recent interview with Kotaku, Suzie also shared some encouraging words for other female streamers who dream of doing the impossible:
“I wanted to prove that we are just as good, even though the majority of people who do the runs and who are invested in the Dark Souls games are guys. That doesn’t mean girls aren’t as good, you know? I want to tell [women] to do their very best to stop the stereotypical ‘girls aren’t good at games’ thing and really show them that we are. That’s actually the case. I just really want them to understand they can be, and don’t ever be afraid to try. You don’t become good at something overnight. You have to really work for it.”
There are plenty of ways for players to spice up their own Dark Souls 3 playthroughs, but if a no-hit speedrun sounds just a bit too intense, perhaps this mod in which the game punishes you for standing still might be more to your liking. Or, if the original Dark Souls is more your jam, you could try this mod wherein the game gets progressively harder with each boss you defeat.