The winner of this speedrunning event gets a real-life RGB katana

As part of a livestream celebrating the second anniversary of Ghostrunner, 505 Games and One More Level outlined a “Legendary Ghostrunner Challenge” for speedrunners, with the grand prize being a real life, light-up katana based on the one from the game.

505 Games selected 16 players through qualifying rounds for the challenge, with participants competing for the best time with a limited amount of lives. In the final challenge, those 16 gamers will have to clear a brand new level, a dope-looking synthwave temple, as fast as possible with only one life. Those are pretty high stakes for the challenging cyborg ninja platformer.

Every participant will get some HP Omen-sponsored swag, but only the winner will receive the grand prize, which includes some Ghostrunner-themed PC peripherals alongside that bad ass rad cyborg ninja sword.

I absolutely love the idea⁠—it feels like a throwback to the Nintendo World Championships, with head to head competitions and heightened stakes for what usually aren't considered traditional esports games. Head to head speedrunning challenges like this are always one of my favorite events at AGDQ, and the real-life katana grand prize just seals the deal.

Developer One More Level also revealed some concept art and a release window for Ghostrunner 2: Q4 2023. The developers indicated that we'll hear more about this sequel in the Spring. The first game is a slick platformer, combining Mirror's Edge-style first person parkour with Hotline Miami's brisk pace and cheap deaths. In our Ghostrunner review, Luke Kemp stated that “Ghostrunner wants to make you feel like a cybernetically enhanced badass, and it achieves this almost all the time with great style. It's tough, fair, and fun.”