Quite without specifically trying to, I've already run several of these - Hue, Pneuma: Breath of Life, Stick It to the Man, Flipping Death, Murdered: Soul Suspect (99% of the time), ChromaGun (a Portal-esque puzzle game {it's a paint gun}).
Now I can confidently say it's something I'd like to find more of. Given that games without combat often rely on story for their merits as a game, and that is to the detriment of a speed game, this might not be a niche with a ton of possibilities. But I'd still love suggestions for good speed games (good movement/strats/skips and glitches if possible) where you don't fight or kill anyone, or at most a pinch of comic, cartoonish fighting.
Major exception: horror games where you're supposed to run and hide (Outlast, Amnesia, Soma). I know runs take away the spoopiness of these games but I just have a hard time enjoying them in the first place, plus they probably would still spook me (and they're just thematically not what I'm looking for).
All suggestions appreciated ☺️
Oh and eligible platforms: PC, PS2 (US and JP), PS3, PS4, X360, WiiU, Switch
Dec 2020 edit - PS5 also eligible (please don't hate me 🥺)
Since you mentioned PC, I'll assume emulator is an option (if it's not, sorry about that) and I would recommend one of my favorite SNES games called Marvelous: Another Treasure Island. It's a Japanese only game - although it does have an English patch - and it's in the vein of A Link to the Past in terms of the style of top-down gameplay, although the main game is nothing like ALTTP in terms of gameplay.
It's primarily a puzzle game where the game advances through solving puzzles and challenges rather combat. There is still some combat, 3 of the levels end in a boss fight - but the fights are kinda comical because your weapons are a baseball, boxing gloves, etc. This is pretty much the extent of the combat in the game, it's definitely a more puzzle game or an adventure game rather than an action game that is heavy on combat.
Maybe something from the Monkey Ball series? It’s pretty much just pure platforming.
Depending on your definition of combat, some platformers might be good to include on the list. Celeste is the obvious example, with a sole "boss fight" in Any% which amounts to launching your character at another character repeatedly, much like the rest of the game's movement. Untitled Goose Game has no enemies to attack and some glitches.
Much thanks for the suggestions. I'm not a big fan of emulation. A Short Hike is a game I've strongly considered, and probably will give another chance after it got a spate of QoL patches this year. I tried Celeste casually and I'm sorry, but I hated it. It was too difficult to be fun, and nerfing things with the assistance mode would also make it unfun (as well as disqualifying runs from the leaderboards).
Journey's co-op, and you can't pick your partner. Never played entirely through Flower or Abzu, those could be good possibilities.
Looked through some games I've looked at recently for more ideas.
I know you said you didn't like Celeste so suggesting more precision platformers might not be the way to go, but I'll throw them out anyway. Mobility is a pretty good game and speedrun. It's a bit easier than other precision platformers because it was designed to be "accessible". It has a final boss fight which (much like Celeste) is just throwing your character at the boss. The N series (N++, N:Way of the Ninja, etc) is on the more challenging side but still might be worth a look. No boss fights here. Just making full use of your momentum to schmmove epically.
Eat Girl is a speed oriented game modeled after Pac-Man. No boss fights, just navigating mazes and eating colored dots while avoiding enemies.
There's a really great game one of my friends runs called Fe. I don't remember it having any boss fights. It's an open world exploration game (Metroidvania?) with a really great atmosphere.
Heh, Fe is from the same developers as Stick It and Flipping Death. I'm well aware of it, and it certainly would have been up my alley. I tried learning it but the very first trick in the run was SUCH a pain in the glands I gave up on it (spent over 10 hours trying and never once got it).
Y'know, those being the same developers really should've been obvious. Eh, easy come easy go. Anyway, sorry that it wasn't a good fit for you. Hope you get some other good suggestions.
If i understand correctly you're looking for games to speedrun which do not include combat? There are a plethora of that type of games.
Three out of the four leaderboards I mod do not have any fighting. These are Pandora's Box (a puzzle game), Guldkornexpressen (an old and incredibly obscure game) and Breached (a sci-fi walker game). All of the four leaderboards I mod currently has me as the only active runner, so I would love some competition. These are all on PC. Other non-combat games that caught my interest are Lemmings and Island Saver.
I think non-combat is a very broad restriction though, maybe you should narrow down to what kind of genre you like and what platform you prefer.
If you're looking for non-violent games, any roblox game (almost) or something like Golf With Your Friends would work well. I also would recommend the Super Monkey Ball games as well.
There's a fair amount of 2d platformer web games that fit this general category. Since you seem to prefer longer games than I typically do, maybe try Amidst the Sky? You could also check out the games made by AdventureIslands/Jussi Simpanen.
Yeah, I mean games where you're still a person moving through a world. That should have been implicit, sorry if it wasn't.
RE:RUN has some fighting but it mostly relies on speed and the skips can be fun, some glitches are a bit annoying if you're learning them (also RE:RUN is free)
Got a new one of my own - Astro's Playroom on the PS5 is an absolute delight, and the only "fighting" is definitely cartoonish and light-hearted. Gonna run this game for sure