We've recently made the decision to allow Borderless Gaming for the foreseeable future.

Borderless Gaming allows the game to run in borderless windowed mode, which enables you to more easily switch between programs on your PC without it freezing. It also allows you to have LiveSplit sit on top of the game while having the game take up the whole screen. It should be noted that all other third-party modifications (besides the LiveSplit plugin) are still not allowed. This also applies to mods similar to Borderless Gaming, like Uberhalit's SekiroFPSUnlockerAndMore (this mod is banned, regardless of the settings used).

We've decided to exclusively allow Borderless Gaming, because it fixes some really annoying issues that many runners have to deal with that can't be solved otherwise, while being minimalistic enough in its implementation that we can be reasonably sure that it does not interfere with or change the way Sekiro would normally be played. The reason we are strict in this aspect is because we want to preserve the original gameplay experience of the game. Game modifications, even purely cosmetic ones, can often have unintended side effects; therefore, we have to be careful when allowing things.

If we discover that Borderless Gaming somehow impacts the game in an unintended way, then we may ban it again. In the event that that happens, runs using it may be invalidated if a significant advantage is somehow gained through the use of it. However, that is extremely unlikely. We're still looking to learn more about potential issues with Borderless Gaming, so please share your experience on the discord if you encounter something odd during your runs.

We recommend version 9.5.6, which can be downloaded for free here: https://github.com/Codeusa/Borderless-Gaming/releases/tag/9.5.6 You can also buy it on Steam.

Two rule changes have been made to the leaderboards. Please read them; they are in effect as of today.

Game rule:

No instance of Cheat Engine or Practice Tool of any kind may be connected to the game upon starting a run. Sekiro must be closed and restarted if any instance has been used.

Glitchless subcategory rule:

Banned:

• Using any grapple animation glitch to gain an advantage. Note: Unintentional animation glitches that do not gain any advantage do not invalidate a run.

The new game rule means that runs performed while using CE or practice tool are not eligible for the leaderboards. Actively using cheats during runs was never allowed, but for a run to be valid now, you must restart Sekiro if you had CE attached to the Sekiro.exe process, ran johndisandonato's practice tool, or applied any other cheat/practice tool. The reasoning behind this change is that a cheat program needs to modify the game for it to work (specifically, they need to write to memory). Some of these changes persist even after CE or the practice tool has been closed and are only undone upon restarting the game. This theoretically falls under game modifications, which are not allowed, and thus we are clearing that up by formally banning it. Additionally, we have some concerns that it may interfere with the timing plug-in in some edge cases in ways we are yet to solve. Note: This rule change does not have a retroactive effect on already submitted or verified runs. If your run has already been verified, it will not be deleted if it is in violation of this rule (unless, of course, you are cheating).

The glitchless subcategory rule basically just formally bans the recently discovered tutorial grapple glitch: ⁠. A brief discussion on Discord⁠ suggested that it should not be allowed in glitchless. The wording was extended to also ban all other forms of grapple glitches. However, it should be clear now that accidental grapple glitch memes such as: https://www.twitch.tv/seki/clip/InexpensiveTenuousOtterKlappa do not invalidate a glitchless run.

The new timer which created by @wasted has already published to livesplit. If you are using the old timer, please deactivate and activate again. It could update to the new timer. The new timer included blackscreen removal and auto splitter. The leaderboards officially accept the runs using new timer. A really special thanks to @wasted who created the new timer and @Holm @Pennek @Olalla @ponetchmas who tested and find all useful event id and position for the auto splitter. Autosplitter Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Nwp6XwURGksUu-_jCVhcyXh4KH7hTCXYsJTCHbw87JQ/edit?usp=sharing