So there’s a couple of tricks I know of that can be used to save time, depending on which category you’re doing.

Loading Skipping: This can be used in any category. After you release the martyr, the game closes and you need to reboot, which can take a while. However, as long as the triggers for the martyr being released have occurred before an instance of the game finishes loading, then that instance will have the changes caused by releasing the martyr (the primary one for our purposes being that the ending zones are now available). Thus, you can cut out on loading time by starting one instance of the game and timing the end of the loading for precisely when you finish unleashing the martyr.

This is pretty easy to do but does require a little bit of setup before starting the run

1. Before you start a run, open up two instances of the game launcher. Launch One, and Alt + Tab from the loading instance to the other. (This ensures easy access during the run itself)

2. Once you’re at the point where you’re near releasing the martyr, quickly Alt + Tab to the launcher instance and press enter. This will begin loading the game. It takes the game ~20 seconds to finish loading for me, and if the game finishes before you complete the other steps then you’ll have to open up the game again and won’t have gained any time, so be careful.

3. Quickly Complete the two steps to unrestrain the martyr (interact with the altar and then use all five body parts on the torso in the temple), then immediately Alt + F4 to shut down this game instance.

4. If you’ve timed it right, you’ll load into your second instance of the game with the martyr effects in place. (You’ll also still have the martyr body parts, since the game only updates inventory on room transitions and so the last saved inventory before you closed the game had the body parts).

Here’s an example of what the second part looks like in action that I took from one of my runs.

Clips and Out of Bounds Shenanigans: The rest of the tricks I know of all involve messing with collision in some fashion. I’m not sure how many are actually glitches and how many are intentional, considering that the first one is pretty clearly intended behavior.

I compiled a video of the ones I know of and will have explanations below. Apologies for the lackluster editing, It’s definitely not my strong suit.

Fool Card: This first clip is explicitly required to complete anything other than normal any%, as the other categories all need the fool card.

I’m not completely consistent with it, but the strategy I’ve found works best is to attack the specific temple enemy depicted in the video, then run and push them towards one of the corners behind them. Afterwards, spam jumping at them until you get flung above the roof and simply jump into the room with the fool card. The ability to do this might have something to do with whether or not the enemy’s spinning, but I’m not entirely sure. Regardless, with this and the other run-relevant clip I’d just recommend practicing until you feel comfortable with it.

Torso Armory Clip:

This is the hardest of the three tricks to pull off, and the one with the most time lost if it goes wrong. I recommend only doing this for All cards runs, as there it can save you a lot of time over getting level ten in everything to unlock the door normally. (I assume, I haven’t actually tested it).

Essentially how this works is that the blue fire around the giant torso boss, which typically instantly kills you, sometimes doesn’t if your defense isn’t high enough. It also can push you through corners, which is used here to bypass the door on the armory.

The setup for this involves having enough speed, armor, and health in order for it to be viable for you to survive. I use the cuirass, one sun card, and one chariot card. Afterwards, to get started, just shoot the torso, which will cause it to begin moving towards you, and then run to the armory door.

There’s two clips involved, one to get into the armory, and the other to get out. The first clip is fairly easy, just stand in the armory door’s left corner with your back to the door and hold back and left. You should slide right into the armory.

Once you’re in the armory, quickly run in, grabbing the tarot card. Next is the hardest part of the trick, since now you have to get past the torso in the incredibly cramped armory without dying so you can then clip back out. My strategy here is to run to left corner of the room to lure the torso so there’s then enough space to maneuver around the right side and back to the door. Deaths here either come from the fire sometimes deciding to damage you, or being pushed out of the map entirely. If you think you’re stuck without a chance of getting out, take off your cuirass, since it’s a lot faster to die from being burned rather than the long wait time that comes from falling.

The clip back out is performed similarly to the first clip, but likely with the added pressure of having a lot less health from various damage you’ve taken throughout. I suggest immediately fleeing all the way down to torso’s spawn room, where you can recover health and then continue with the run.

The other tricks in the video aren’t really things that I found viable for saving time in runs, but I put them there because I thought they were cool.