He says he can't recall the specific names of the different mods, but he does say he has some that tweak the way stats works (and I believe some graphical mods as well). But yeah, major gameplay changes makes perfect sense. Thanks!

Asking for my fiance who does not have an account here but might be interested in learning the NG+ run.

Hopefully this isn't a silly question, but; He plays the game with mods installed, but figured that having them in his game would invalidate any run he hypothetically submits. Does he need a clean install?

So I've yet to submit a run yet, but I can at least speak for my own experience with casual playthroughs when I say that even non-speedruns can be done quite easily (my best time in a casual run is probably 2.5 hours) I'm currently working on a guide for any newcomers, so keep an eye on the guides for when it is ready.

The game isn't necessarily exploitable and doesn't have any real skips. The run is comprised of just knowing how to solve the puzzles and figuring out what the most effective path to take in doing so is. I'd check out the current WR run and make note of the path they take. Alternatively, since the game is very dividable by its four years, you can easily practice each year individually and shave time down on a PB that way.