AGDQ 2022 kicks off this weekend: Where and when to watch

With Christmas and New Year’s Day firmly in the rearview, speedrunning enthusiasts are getting excited for an entirely different type of winter event: Awesome Games Done Quick. The annual speedrunning marathon returns this weekend, and even though AGDQ 2022 will be online-only once again, the event will still offer an entire week’s worth of speedruns to watch. Here’s where and when you’ll need to tune in to catch AGDQ 2022, along with a few speedruns we’re excited to see ourselves.

Image: Games Done Quick

AGDQ 2022 start time, where to watch, and donation information

Awesome Games Done Quick 2022 kicks off on Sunday, January 9th, 2022, at 12 PM EST. The show will be live-streamed on the Games Done Quick Twitch channel, but if you tune in at 11:30 AM EST, you’ll be able to catch the pre-show featuring some familiar Games Done Quick faces. They’ll talk about the runs they’re excited for and highlight some of the more unique runs that are worth watching, in addition to generally hyping up the event.

The full AGDQ 2022 schedule can be found over on the Games Done Quick website. This will automatically show every speedrun start time for your local time zone, so it’s a handy way to figure out when you should tune in for specific runs. The schedule will also be updated as bonus run incentives are met and as runs and setup blocks go under or over their estimate, so while it won’t always be accurate to the minute, it’ll be close.

As always, the money donated during Awesome Games Done Quick 2022 will benefit the Prevent Cancer Foundation. In addition, donating during Awesome Games Done Quick will enter you to win certain prizes dependent not only on when you donate but also on how much you contribute. You can view the prizes along with a list of incentive goals on GDQ’s donation tracker when the event is live (at the moment, it doesn’t seem like the donation tracker has been fully updated yet).

Awesome Games Done Quick 2022 will run from January 9th until the early morning hours on Sunday, January 16th, 2022. At the moment, the AGDQ 2022 finale is scheduled for 12:13 AM EST on the 16th, but that time will undoubtedly be pushed back a little bit during the event. Speedruns will be broadcast 24 hours a day while the event is on, so you can tune in at any time of day to catch some sweet speedrun action.

AGDQ 2022 speedruns you don’t want to miss

When the AGDQ 2022 was first announced, we listed some speedruns we were excited to catch, so this time around, we’ll name a different batch of speedruns worth checking out. On Sunday, we’ll see an any% race of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong’s Quest between four runners: V0oid, SBDWolf, Tonkotsu, and Eazinn. Races are always exciting affairs worth setting aside some time for.

Games Done Quick

On Monday, ItzBytez will be performing an any% run of the freshly-released Psychonauts 2, which we named one of the best games of 2021; you can be sure we’ll be checking that one out. Tuesday will bring us a “Fresh File any%” speedrun of PS5 exclusive Returnal by cavecavecave, so if you want to see some next-generation speedrunning, that’s one to mark on your calendar.

On Wednesday, we’ll get a Sonic block featuring speedruns like Sonic R by Risuruuu and Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II co-op by AmberCyprian and Argick, while Thursday will feature a Castlevania block featuring four different speedruns. Friday will bring us a Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire any% race between “truely” and “wartab” that’s estimated to take 3 hours and 15 minutes. Finally, Saturday will give us a doozy of a run in Mitchriz’s blindfolded any% speedrun of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Yes, we said blindfolded.

There are a ton more runs scheduled for Awesome Games Done Quick 2022, but those are just a few of the ones that have caught our eye. AGDQ 2022 kicks off on Sunday, so if you’re planning on watching, we’ll see you in chat.