10 RPG runs to watch during AGDQ 2026

Ringing in the new year for a lot of folks marks a time of starting over, fresh new beginnings, and a year of possibilities ahead. For fans of speedruns, it also means a brand new week of watching video games during Awesome Games Done Quick! This special 24/7 event that runs from January 4 through to January 11 this year, will bring the best speed runners from around the globe together to raise money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation charity. Now in its 15th year, watchers can look forward to pulse-pounding runs all week long and even donate to a great cause (and possibly win some amazing prizes), and I, for one, can’t wait! 

Covering all types of genres, regardless of what sort of games you like to play or watch, you can bet there will be a run or two that will speak to you, RPGs included. As this is RPGSite, we thought we should highlight some of the runs we are most excited for this week, and when you can catch them! 

Awesome Games Done Quick will be streamed live on Twitch, and you can find the full schedule HERE, automatically converted to your time zone.

Here are the 10 RPGs we are most looking forward to during AGDQ 2026!

Final Fantasy X

When I first played Final Fantasy X back in middle school on my PS2, I felt like my final time for my first playthrough was somewhere between the 40-50 hour mark. Even now, after a number of playthroughs under my belt, I doubt I could get much lower than, say, 35 hours, but runner Vemillion is going to beat this beloved classic in under 3 hours and 20 minutes on Monday!

Check out our old review of the HD Remaster from back in 2014!

Pokemon Legends: Z-A

It isn’t just older games that make it to the stage at AGDQ, and this year, one of the newer titles to get crushed is the new Pokémon Legends: Z-A on the Switch 2. This latest monster-catching adventure reinvents the combat and introduces a fast, more real-time approach to the classic series. Run by Zypotic, Z-A looks to be beaten in less than two hours on Monday!

You can see what we thought of Pokémon Legends: Z-A in our review.

Borderlands 2

Having not played Borderlands 4 yet, at least at present, I think that Borderlands 2 peaked with its second entry, which makes me thrilled to see this Co-op All Quests run appearing on the stage on Tuesday. Ran by Zzrules21, Deceptix_, and UnjustAction, these vault hunters will take on Handsome Jack and the rest that Pandora has to throw at them all in under three hours.

Our heroic leader Alex Donaldson himself reviewed this gem all the way back in 2012, and you can read it here.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon

Is Armored Core VI an RPG? I’ll leave that debate for smarter folks than I, but we did feature it here on the site, so that is enough of a reason to feature it. That and I adore sweet mecha goodness, which AC6 has in spades. TheKingsPride will be blasting and boosting his way through the arena in less than an hour during this run on Wednesday, and I can’t wait to see what sorts of weapons of mass destruction they slap on their machine.

Check out Josh Torres’ in-depth thoughts on the game as part of our Branching Paths series!

Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver

Coming just two runs after Armored Core, the best Pokémon games will get featured on AGDQ’s mainstage with this Any% run of Pokémon Heart Gold or Soul Silver by TTS4Life on Wednesday. With an estimated time of only 2 hours 45 minutes, we will just need to watch and see to find out whether this will include a tense battle against Red in the Kanto region.

Octopath Traveler 2

The newer Octopath Traveler Zero may be more in the forefront of folks’ minds right now, but its predecessor, Octopath Traveler 2, is a turn-based RPG rockstar. In AnimeFanX11’s run on Thursday, they will be racing through all of a single character’s story in just over an hour. Donate to vote on which of the female characters will be picked.

We are rather fond of this second entry, and you can read our review here.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Our Game of the Year 2025 is making its debut at AGDQ, and what’s better than one speedrun? Two speedruns, well, in this case, a race between two runners. Bdud5 and Z3RO1337 will be racing through Expert difficulty, and taking it to the Paintress and Renoir, all in just over 2 hours on Thursday. This run will also serve as a good time to build up the hype for the runs that come after…

Here is our review of 2025’s runaway smash hit

Lies of P

Lies of P is regarded as one of the standout souls-like titles not made by FromSoftware, and its expansion, Overture, was well received too. Runner ColonelFat69 will be pulling the puppet’s strings and blazing through this prequel in under an hour, glitchless, on Friday! 

Check out our reviews for both Lies of P and Overture!

Chrono Trigger

Let’s be real for a second, I’m pretty sure that if we didn’t recommend you watch the Chrono Trigger run, then we couldn’t call ourselves RPGSite anymore. This legendary title is being run on Friday by JeriKandra and going for Magnus and beating Lavos all in under 2 hours. No better way to ring in the weekend than with some pure 16-bit goodness.

After watching the run, go play it yourself, and find out which version is best using our handy guide.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles

Last year's remaster of the classic SRPG with Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles made it easy again for squires the world over to experience the tale of Ramza again, and AGDQ is wasting no time to show it off. ChessJerk will be sending his forces into the fray and reclaiming the Zodiac Stones in 2 hours or less on Saturday.

We rather enjoyed Ivalice Chronicles last year, and to find out why, check out our review.