Community Spotlight: AstridTheHorrorGirl
Written by BusyGamerBelle
Published on May 8th, 2024
Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background as a gamer/speedrunner?
Sure thing. I'm AstridTheHorrorGirl. I'm a transwoman, and I've been playing video games since I was like 7 years old, and I was kind of always interested in playing games that felt suspenseful or scary. I got really into a lot of the horror games that are popular, like Resident Evil, and Silent Hill, and I basically played anything that was supposedly like those games, either by recommendations from friends, or from what Game Informer magazine told me.
How did you get your start and what was your first speedrun? How did you first get into speedrunning Alone in the Dark? What attracted you to it?
I first got into speedrunning by watching GDQ's main events. I thought speedrunning was really cool and I always wanted to be able to do that too, but I think that I always felt that I could never be good enough at videogames to be able to do that. But, at some point recently, I wanted to try. My favorite videogame of all time was F.E.A.R., so I wanted to give that a shot. Before I even finished my first run, the community around the game had found me, and they invited me to their Discord, just because I was playing with a Livesplit clock displayed on the screen. I didn't look up any strats at first. I just tried to see how fast I could go. When I saw my time and saw that I wasn't last, I said to myself, "Okay, let's look at the strats and see if I could do what they do." It was kind of all over from there. I was speedrunning any game that I loved if I thought the run was fun.
I was really looking forward to playing the new Alone in the Dark, and I was fortunate enough to have been given a copy by my friend the day it came out. There are two characters you can play as, and they both have their own individual stories that are basically the same. So when I played through one character, I tried the other. My first playthrough took me ten hours. My second, since I already knew my way around mostly, was three. So I immediately targeted it as a game I wanted to learn.
What’s your strategy or game plan to get you mentally focused for a speedrun? Any tips or tricks that work for you?
It depends on how long I’ve been running the game. If I just started, I just want to try my best. I take mental notes after the first few runs on what areas I particularly need to practice, and I work on those outside of just the ordinary runs. I see what tricks are difficult to do, and I try them until I have them. Once I have all that squared away, I have a pretty good idea of what a good goal to set for myself would be. Sometimes, it’s the World Record, but most of the time, it’s just to be under a certain number. For Alone in the Dark, I just wanted to be under one hour.
You recently got a sub 1 hour in Alone in the Dark. You had to feel good doing this, but could you tell us what it felt like leading up to this moment and what you felt when you realized you finally did it?
Accomplishing a goal in speedrunning feels so fulfilling. It feels like all the work I’ve been putting in has paid off. It really is just an incredibly good way to feel. I think any time I see myself get a PB, I feel really good inside. But any time I beat one of my goals, it’s the highlight of my day almost any day I do it.
What advice would you give those who might be interested in getting into speedrunning, especially for starting in this game?
For people thinking about getting into speedrunning, I would say that they should ask themselves if they have a game that they love, right now, that they wouldn’t mind playing literally dozens of times over and over again. If something comes to mind, maybe they should start with that. Just try to go as fast as they can, and then maybe look and see what other people have done and try to do it too. Don’t be intimidated by incredibly difficult tech. Go at your own pace. Take things in stride. Maybe ask your friends who know you, if they’re into speedrunning, what might be a good place for you to start too. And don’t worry about setting World Records. What’s more important is having fun setting a goal for yourself.
What’s next for you? Getting a lower time in Alone in the Dark? Something else?
I’m already playing another game, honestly. I will likely return to Alone in the Dark to maybe try another category, and I never hold out on the possibility that I could go back and improve my time, I do that with a lot of games that I run. But sometimes, I just want to learn something new, and that’s what I am doing right now.
Follow AstridTheHorrorGirl on social media!
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/astridthehorrorgirl
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@astridthehorrorgirl4709
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astridthehorrorgirl
Interview by BusyGamerBelle for the May 2024 Lady Arcaders Newsletter.