Twitch streamer Perri ‘PerriKaryal’ Karyal has been absolutely smashing soulslike games using an EKG headset, which uses software to convert her brain signals into controller inputs. Over the past few months, she’s beaten several of FromSoftware’s best, but recently gave Jump King a go, inadvertently proving that, even with mind control, it’s an impossibly tough game to beat.
PerriKaryal is best known for beating Elden Ring and its Shadow of the Erdtree DLC using her EKG controller, head movements, and voice commands. She’s never one to shy away from a challenge, and that’s exactly what Jump King is.
PerriKaryal reconfigured her headset before playing, so she had the jump button controlled by one mental signal and movements controlled by the gyroscope. She made it to the third screen up in the first area after an hour of attempts, trying the base game 44 times. Given that this was her first experience with the title and that she’s using a controller no one has ever tried to play the platform game with before, that’s still a pretty impressive personal best.
In Jump King, players can control the height of the knight’s jump, as well as the jump’s direction with their run movement. But Jump King is merciless and unforgiving; it knocks you down, sometimes by several screens, when you misjudge a leap or hit a ledge at the wrong angle. This fits PerriKaryal’s brand of beating soulslikes quite well, considering that’s how it feels when Radahn crushes you for the 100th time in an evening.
One of the most interesting parts about this run is that, yes, Jump King is a frustrating game that induces just as much rage as any soulslike – possibly more – but PerriKaryal’s controller relies on her being able to maintain a clear and level head.
Feelings like fear and tension literally ruin her ability to play, so she needs to remain focused despite the absolute despair players might feel when they fall more than a few screens. It’s impressive to watch her hit some incredibly precise jumps, and I’m sure more than a few of her followers would like to see her try to reach the top.
The streamer has an in-depth video that explains exactly how the EKG headset translates brain signals into controller inputs. She does a great job of explaining how it all works before playing anything in her streams. Despite demystifying the entire process, it’s always entertaining to watch her hold her hands under her head and annihilate bosses that take the rest of us hours to defeat with every advantage of our actual controllers.
If reading about PerriKaryal’s mental gymnastics has given you the itch to play something similar, there are plenty of great soulslike games to play this year. While her controller is sadly a little unapproachable for those who don’t know the hardware and software well enough, you can still get a fantastic PC controller in 2024 for almost everything else, like driving, flying, or even Jump King.
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