As part of a live stream (opens in new tab) celebrating Ghostrunner's second anniversary, 505 Games and One More Level outlined the "Legendary Ghostrunner Challenge" for speedrunners.

505 Games selected 16 players throughout the preliminary round of the challenge, where participants competed for the best time with a limited number of lives. In the final challenge, those 16 gamers must complete an entirely new level, the Temple of Dopey Synthwave, in the fastest time with only one life. The stakes are pretty high for a challenging cyborg ninja platformer.

All participants will receive prizes sponsored by HP Omen, but only the winner will receive a Ghostrunner-themed PC peripheral with a cyborg ninja sword included.

I love this idea. It feels like being back at the Nintendo World Championships, playing head-to-head and placing higher stakes on what would not normally be considered traditional esports games. These speedrunning head-to-heads have always been one of my favorite events on AGDQ, and the real-life Katana grand prize fits the bill exactly.

Developer One More Level also revealed concept art and a release date (Q4 2023) for Ghostrunner 2. The developer suggests that we will hear more about this sequel in the spring. The previous game was a clever platformer that combined "Mirror's Edge"-esque first-person parkour with the snappy pacing and cheesy deaths of "Hotline Miami." Luke Kemp, in his review of Ghostrunner (opens in new tab), wrote, "Ghostrunner wants to make you feel like a cybernetically enhanced badass, and it almost always delivers in great style. Tough, fair, and fun.