Ok so I think I can get back to top 5 if I have a better understanding of how this works. I understand that people are pausing after getting a lightning fast glance at the puzzle and get the solutions so they can input them asap. But where are they getting that precise info? Are they just writing the possible outcomes down before the run and checking which one it is? Can someone help me out with that? Also I'm seeing pauses to seemingly make certain events happen faster, such as the zombie that burts through the door early on and I think I even saw one after you pick up the spade key when you hear a zombie make a noise. Would someone be kind enough to walk me/everyone through this? Break it down or something? I'm convinced this is the biggest thing stopping my times from being better atm (current PB is 7th at 53 mins on ng+) lol thank you so much in advance!

dude I just looked at my old run and I forgot how trash it is haha I get a full zombie attack animation once, certain lines could've been better, didn't go straight after the spade key (best strat at the time was 180 and go back down the stairs lol). Now I see just going through the library let's you skip that entire marvin scene which means no interruptions nor having to go back up the stairs. Plus I think it's just faster from a point A to B kind of way lol basically faster in every way. Also no one had realized you can slip between the monitor on your way to take the elevator down in the lab, all this combined has me excited to drop that time down. Hell I don't even need to worry about them medallions atm lol way bigger fish to fry! Thanks man your advice just made me realize all of this. Like I was thinking about looking at my old run too but when you said it I was like "ok I just watched 3 modern records, let's see mine again" and just wow lmao it's exciting to see this game becoming more and more optimized. I think I can get 5th with just cleaning up what I said before. Seriously thank you again man, not only were you totally right but the way you approached my question was genuinely positive, respectful ,thoughtful and even uplifting tbh. Love this community and mods lol

Also holy crap I need to adjust my settings, way too many frame drops smh video quality is trash for real. I'm about to check out that sticky in the forums haha