The PC games to watch at Awesome Games Done Quick 2016

Another year brings another AGDQ event .

. The 2016 charity speedrunning marathon is now under way, and will run until Sunday, January 10. It's a packed schedule of some great (and some totally awful) games, all being played at maximum speed. You can see the live stream below. Under that, you'll find an explanation of what AGDQ is, and a list of the PC games scheduled to be played.

What is it?

AGDQ—or Awesome Games Done Quick—is a massive speedrunning marathon, featuring some of the world's best speedrunners playing games very quickly for money. Specifically, for money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

Why is it good?

It's a chance to not only see some of your favourite games being played absurdly fast, but also to learn their fascinating idiosyncrasies. Speedrunners, by and large, know the games they play inside out, including how quirks in an engine can be manipulated to achieve shortcuts and workarounds. Take Half-Life 2 as an example. By repeatedly grabbing and jumping off an object, players are able to effectively fly outside of a map's boundaries. Even better, by jumping backwards, players can infinitely accelerate. This is known as Accelerated Back Hopping, because of course it is.

Point being, this stuff is cool and—in a live environment where every mistake matters—incredibly tense to watch.

What should I watch?

You can see the full schedule on this page, which lists every game by your local timezone. If you've no interest in the many console-focused parts of the show, I've dug out every PC relevant game being played. You can find them below.

Monday, Jan 4

11:15 GMT – Left 4 Dead 2 12:50 GMT – Darksiders II 14:05 GMT – Devil May Cry 3 or 4: Special Edition 15:45 GMT – Transformers: Devastation 16:50 GMT – Resident Evil HD Remaster

Tuesday, Jan 5

01:10 GMT – BattleBlock Theater 03:10 GMT – Ori and the Blind Forest 04:20 GMT – Velocity 2X 06:15 GMT – Super Time Force Ultra 06:55 GMT – Fez 07:35 GMT – Axiom Verge 08:45 GMT – Hotline Miami 09:25 GMT – Iji 10:15 GMT – Hero Core 11:00 GMT – Teslagrad 11:45 GMT – A Hat In Time (Beta) 12:25 GMT – Cloudbuilt 12:50 GMT – Kero Blaster 13:30 GMT – Snapshot 14:05 GMT – Spelunky 15:40 GMT – Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light 23:05 GMT – Half-Life 2

Wednesday, Jan 6

01:10 GMT – Portal 2 02:30 GMT – Alien Swarm 03:00 GMT – The Talos Principle 04:50 GMT – Wrack 05:20 GMT – Wolfenstein: The Old Blood 06:40 GMT – Tag: The Power of Paint 07:00 GMT – SOMA 08:35 GMT – Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs 09:20 GMT – Outlast 10:00 GMT – InkUraj 10:20 GMT – Prince of Persia* 13:35 GMT – Sonic Lost World**

*I'm not sure if this is the original Prince of Persia, or the 2008 one.

**Sonic Lost World is not a good game , but that rarely matters when it comes to speedruns. Many of the 3D Sonic games make for fascinating runs, because they're so broken that they're full of glitches and other unintended shortcuts.

Thursday, Jan 7

10:35 GMT – Age of Empires 11:45 GMT – Dragon Age: Origins 13:05 GMT – Grand Theft Auto III 19:35 GMT – Mirror's Edge 20:40 GMT – StepMania

Friday, Jan 8

14:45 GMT – Diablo 15:20 GMT – Diablo II: Lord of Destruction

Saturday, Jan 9

16:45 GMT – Shovel Knight

What are the animals, and why do people want to kill/save them?

As part of AGDQ's money-raising efforts, viewers can donate towards specific in-game actions. Some of these are competitive, with viewers donating money to one of two possible actions. The biggest of these is for Super Metroid, where viewers will donate towards either saving or not saving the animals found at the end of the game. Not saving them saves time on your run, hence why you'll often hear the phrase "kill the animals; save the frames". This really hasn't got anything to do with the PC, but you'll hear it often enough that it seemed worth mentioning.

Can I watch the runs after they've been broadcast?

Yup. Here's the AGDQ 2016 YouTube playlist, where VODs will appear after broadcast. That channel also features playlistsfrom previous events, including from the sunnier Summer Games Done Quick. If you just want to find a bunch of interesting speedruns, that's always a good place to browse. This Reddit threadalso links directly to the VODs on Twitch, and is usually updated quicker than the YouTube list.