After defeating Elden Ring with their big brains, streamer Perrikaryal has decided to use their “mind control gaming” setup in more competitive titles, including Valorant, Halo, and Overwatch 2. They’ve even scored a couple kills in each—a big deal considering they’re mostly relying on gyro controls and the power of positive thinking.
Perrikaryal’s mind control gaming setup is made up of a couple key components: eye tracking, gyro controls, and an electroencephalogram (EEG). The EEG is a device that uses electrodes placed near a user’s head and can identify changes in electrical activity. Usually used to find out if a person suffers from a brain condition, these electrical charges can also be mapped to control a device, even a game.
That’s what full-time psychology streamer Perrikaryal has been trying out live on stream, and they’ve even scored a couple kills with the cerebral kit.
It makes for fascinating watching. Perrikaryal looks more like a worried onlooker than the person actually playing the game. But, because the mind control setup isn’t the snappiest of game controllers, when by hook or by crook Perrikaryal does get a kill, you can’t help but get caught up in the moment too.
Below are some clips of when Perrikaryal manages to get a kill. Though you should check out the longer VODs if you want to get the full picture of what it’s like to game with your mind.
It takes time to train the EEG to recognise certain brain activity as a command. At one point during their stream, Perrikaryal says they’ve trained their current iteration 600/700 times. Even then there are visibly still times when certain commands occur late or not at all. That said, it appears only a matter of time before kit like this gets actually very good.
The concept of brain-controlled computers clearly has a massive appeal. There are devices that hope to allow those with paralysis to interact with digital devices without use of any physical movement, and we’ve even seen gaming-specific mind control devices try to break into the market. There’s even a VR headset with brain control built-in.