To get the Sprinter trophy/achievement, you’ll need to beat Resident Evil 3 remake in under two hours. I managed to accomplish this feat, completing the game in 01:37:49, and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. There are plenty of opportunities in RE3 to shave off playtime, and speedrunning the game in under two hours shouldn’t be too hard once you’ve familiarized yourself with the game.
This guide assumes you’ve already enjoyed one (or more) playthrough of the game. If you haven’t, just be warned there are significant spoilers below.
How do you beat Resident Evil 3 remake in under two hours?
If you’re aiming to get the Sprinter trophy (or achievement if you’re on Xbox One or PC) in Resident Evil 3 remake, you’re going to have to beat the game in under two hours. Fortunately, this is also one of the requirements for S rank, so you can kill two birds with one stone with this run.
My first playthrough of RE3 remake was around seven and a half hours. This was with heavily exploring and pacing myself, and I’m guessing a lot of people’s first run through the game will hit the six-to-seven hour mark.
So, you’ll need to shave that down considerably. Fortunately, there are some critical moments in the game where you can save time. I’ll break speedrunning tactics down by area below. These will be categorized under recommended and optional. I got my 01:37:49 time by just doing what’s under recommended, but if you should get an even lower time by that if you follow all these tips.
Downtown Time Savers
Recommended:
- After the cutscene introducing you to Mikhail, run straight to the Fire Hose in the Subway Office, grabbing only the items in your path.
- Once you have the Fire Hose, run straight to the hydrant and put the fire out.
- Once you arrive at the substation, leave the breaker you have to climb the ladder to get to for last. When you flip this breaker, two Drain Deimos will burst through the path across from the breaker, and you can follow it straight back to the entrance of the area.
- Ignore Nemesis as you run back to the Subway Office to route the train.
- Don’t cut the chain on the Supermarket or Alley across from the Donut Shop.
- Have the solution for the routing puzzle handy.
- Run straight back to the Subway Station.
Optional:
- If you skip picking up the shotgun, it’ll save you a minute or so, but it’ll make the run a lot harder if you don’t have access to any of the shop weapons.
Sewer Time Savers
This area is relatively linear, so there’s not a lot of time to be saved here. I think it’s worth the brief detours to get the Grenade Launcher and side pack as you can make up the time later on.
Optional:
- Skip the Grenade Launcher to save around 3-4 minutes.
- Skip the side pack in the security office to save 1-2 minutes.
Downtown Part 2 Time Savers
Recommended:
- The Nemesis boss fight doesn’t have to take too long. Just keep your distance and don’t rely too much on shocking him with the generator. Just hit the tank on his back till it explodes and keep pouring rounds into his heart.
- Don’t kill any zombies on the way to Kendo’s Gun Shop. They’re not going to bother you.
- Blast the legs of the parasite zombies blocking your way through the alley and the house.
- Ignore Nemesis, for the most part, just dodge at the right time, and the rockets won’t hit you at all.
- Just beeline towards the Subway Station with all your might.
Optional:
- Grab the shotgun upgrade (if you picked up the weapon) and key in Kendo’s to save a bit of time.
RPD Time Savers
Recommended:
- Shoot Brad, because why not? You can probably get into the RPD a little faster if you don’t grab his card.
- Run straight through the entrance to the west wing, Tyrell opens and sprint for the key on the third floor.
- It seems like the Licker that appears when you return to the Evidence Room is pre-aggroed, so either maneuver past it, or use a flash grenade to stun it and head through the door.
- Grab the grenade and battery from the Evidence Room.
- When you blow the hole in the shower, toss your newly acquired hand grenade through it to take out most of the zombies.
- Either flash the Licker in the STARS Office hall or sneak past it. You won’t be coming back out, so it’s okay if you leave it.
Clock Tower Time Savers:
- There’s not a lot you can do here to save time. You can run past or dodge most of the zombies in the underground area.
- For the boss fight, using the Mine Rounds to knock Nemesis off the wall can speed up the process.
Hospital Time Savers:
Recommended:
- Run to the second floor, yeet out the window and grab the Staff Locker Room key, and sprint back up.
- Get the ID card from the locker room and head over to the Nurse’s Station. Get the upgrade out of the safe because it’s right there on the way.
- Ideally, you’ll have a hand grenade to use on the Hunters in the Treatment Room. If not, yeet back down to the first floor and use the ID card to grab the loot out of the Operation Room.
- Now that you’ve got the tape, head into Dr. Bard’s office, grab the vaccine, and keep it rolling back to Jill. You can use a flash grenade on the Hunter that jumps from the skylight when you leave Bard’s office and keep moving.
- I haven’t determined the trigger for ending the zombie hoard attack. It may be timed, or you may have to kill a certain amount of enemies. Just go wild here because you don’t play as Carlos again.
Optional:
- You can save 2-3 minutes by skipping the Operation Room cache, but the Hunters in the Treatment Room are a huge pain to take on or try and dodge.
- You could also skip the Nurse’s Station safe to save 15-30 seconds, but the upgrade is useful for the hoard section.
Hospital (Underground) Time Savers
Recommended:
- Once you take control of Jill, head straight for the underground. It means skipping the Magnum, but you don’t really need it.
- Getting the fuses quick isn’t too tough if you know the layout of the room. Make sure to bring some firepower with you since you have to take out a Hunter Gamma and some zombies to get one of the fuses.
- Also, kill the zombie dogs since they can get in the way and be annoying.
- You don’t absolutely have to take out the parasite zombies near the elevator when you return to put the fuses in. You can shotgun the legs of whichever one you think is threatening and slam the fuses into the panel. Once they’re in, you can ride the elevator up and never think about them again.
NEST Lab Time Savers
This is another section that’s fairly linear.
- Pop up to the second floor and get the Override Key.
- You’ll have to visit both the upstairs and downstairs sections to get both components for the vaccine, so pick your poison.
- I usually take out the Pale Heads here, but you could dodge past them and save some time if you do it right.
- Don’t be afraid to blast everything in sight. The last two Nemesis fights don’t need a ton of ammo, and there’s quite a bit in your path to pick up.
- The fight in the disposal pit against Nemesis has to reach the second stage before you can take him down. So, hit him hard, wait for the cutscene, and listen to Carlos as he spots for you. You can take down Nemesis in as little as one or two cycles if you hit him hard enough, so keep on him.
- The railgun fight can’t be sped up by too much. You should be able to reinsert two power packs each time you take out the red blobs on Nemesis on Assisted and Standard if you’re quick. Just don’t overextend yourself because his slams hurt.
After the last fight with Nemesis, you’re all good. Just skip cutscenes, shoot Nikolai, and wait for the results screen.
