Blink: Achievement - Speed Blinker
4Blink (PC(W,M)/Steam)
Version: 2017 Apr 01
Achievement: Speed Blinker
Description: Beat Blink faster than the developers. Good luck.
So... Blink is basically a puzzle platformer where you're granted the ability to switch to and from a shadow world in which everything (including the floor!) turns into shadow... everything, that is, except brightly-lit surfaces. Brightly-lit surfaces will turn into platforms you can walk on! (the story explanation is more or less that it's your companion's perception of light that causes this)
Of course, as usual in puzzle platformers, the puzzles start out fairly simple, but do introduce some more complications a little later on.
Anyway, one of the more difficult Achievements in the game is the speedrunning one. Partly due to the normal difficulties of speedrunning achievements (figuring out a balance of speed and safety that'll allow you to beat the necessary time). But also because the Achievement description doesn't actually tell us what the time to beat actually is! =p
Fortunately, headphones333 recorded an Achievement-unlocking speedrun (see link near bottom of this description). So from that, we know not just when the achievement gets unlocked... but also that the required time isn't more than 27:41.90. =) I also learned a few time-saving tricks from that speedrun, so... thank you, headphones333, for uploading it to youtube! ^_^
Anyway, while working on the speedrun, I figured out some tricks and strategies that seemed to work well for me... so I figured I might as well record them. Partly for my own benefit (in case I ever forget the strategies I used for a particular room), but also for yours! So if you're having trouble with the "Speed Blinker" achievement (or are just curious to see if I used any different strategies than you did), hopefully this video will be of some help!
Some notes and possible points of interest:
0:06 Speedrun start
0:40 Found this skip mostly by accident: During the house scene, press and hold right, and keep holding, and instead of getting the movement tutorial after you wake up, you'll skip directly to the next room. =)
3:16 Oops, first death. =p
3:28 BTW, as far as I know, this death is unavoidable... so if you try for the "3 deaths or less" achievement ("You Only Live Thrice"), keep in mind that it's essentially a "2 deaths or less (plus 1 unavoidable death)" achievement. =p
5:12 It is possible to jump over the creature a bit sooner... but this way feels a lot safer to me. ^_^
10:25 Originally, I thought these blocks could crush you, but it turns out, they can't! =)
11:50 Minor time save: when an elevator is bringing you to the top of the screen, if you jump when near the top, you can trigger the screen transition a little sooner, if you time it right. ^^
12:12 Sometimes this shadow creature doesn't get stuck in the light, so be prepared to avoid it if that happens!
13:09 Whoops, minor mistake: Swung the first light a bit too far, the first time. =p
19:43 Whoops, forgot the lantern. =p Leaving the room resets the platform timing, which in this case is faster than waiting for it to loop.
22:13 This room can be a little tricky (if you need to reset the lantern positions, exit and re-enter the room). The best (safest) way I found of doing this room is to get a light on both sides of the middle shadow creature, so you can use the two platforms to more easily jump over it as it heads left (then jump over the right creature when it moves left).
23:42 If you're pressing left while falling, when you get to the boss room, you'll be able to fall leftward (instead of straight down), and land on the platform with a switch. I suspect, like at the beginning of the game, the directional command gets buffered from the previous room, so you basically get to carry over the movement command from one room to the next, allowing you to move when you're probably not supposed to be able to. ^.^
24:08 The laser does still hit the enemy, even when you're in the shadow world. =) By staying in the shadow world as much as possible, you'll be able to get to the third laser switch without having to go to the ground again!
24:22 Whoops. ^^; Respawning won't reset any progress... but still, whoops. ^^;;
24:35 Speedrun end! Based on the headphones333 speedrun video, after the crystal goes up then comes back down (when the screen starts to go white) is when the achievement gets unlocked! Wow, managed a sub-25 time! =) Also, now that I'm rewatching the video... I think that was also a 3-deaths win! ^.^
26:30 Thank you for watching, and if you've been having trouble with the Speed Blinker achievement, hopefully this video has been of some help!
Blink Speedrun 27:41:90 (by headphones333):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK95pce2PH0
Blink Patch notes (2017 Apr 01):
https://steamcommunity.com/games/447210/announcements/detail/575739788026806619
http://nextrealitygames.com/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/447210/Blink/
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/blink