The streamer DeadlyPG can only rely on his voice to play. But that’s enough to get through even the toughest boss battles
With sheer willpower and the power of his voicethe Polish-born streamerDeadlyPGhas achieved the almost impossible – he has defeated Malenia, the tough boss inElden Ring. DeadlyPG is called Szymon in real life, is 20 years old and lives with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA for short).
As a result, he can only move to a limited extent, even though he says he is not completely paralyzed. However, only one finger on his hands can move, which makes traditional gaming difficult. He circumvents this limitation with the help of a voice program called VoiceAttack, which converts his spoken commands into inputs. To defeat Malenia in this way alone, the streamer had to make 700 attempts.The battle took two weeks
I DID IT!
I beat Malenia using voice controls! No magic, no summons, no cheese! Took over 700 attempts across 2 weeks!
DLC next, let’s go! pic.twitter.com/mP4I6Qi9ZU
– DeadlyPG (@DeadlyPG) June 24, 2024
What is “spinal muscular atrophy”?
Spinal muscular atrophy is a genetic disease that leads to progressive muscle atrophy and movement disorders, particularly in the spine. Those affected suffer from muscle weakness, coordination problems and functional disorders.
Elden Ring played through with his voice
In an interview with GamesradarSzymon talks in more detail about his achievement and makes it clear againwhat a huge challengehe has overcome here. Especially as he took no shortcuts, for example via insanely powerful builds or inglorious tactics.
I think I was lucky. Malenia was really hard. I was so close so many times and then died and was very sad. I still can’t believe I made it. I did my best not to make it too easy for myself, which in hindsight was perhaps stupid. I decided not to use summons, not to cast spells and not to overlevel. I decided to set myself these challenges because I wanted to show that it was possible. If I can do it with the voice, anyone can do it.
Accessibility for physically impaired people in particular is always an issue when it comes to the level of difficulty in soul games. Often these games become an impossible challenge for people like Szymon due to their fixed difficulty level. Szymon was able to show that it is still possible with pure willpower However, he had to bring an enormous amount of time and frustration to the table
At the same time, Szymon also emphasizes that Elden Ring in particular makes control via voice command easier than you might think at first:
With this game, I feel like I have more control. I just learn the timing and animations of the enemies that lead to certain attacks. I feel like I can anticipate them better.
An even bigger task awaits
What happens now? Has Szymon had enough after this monstrous task? On the contrary. According to Szymon, after 15 minutes of joy he would have loved to fight Malenia again right away… I love this game,
he emphasizes again…
Of course, the next challenge for him is on the road. Szymon has been trying his hand at the new DLCShadow of the Erdtreefor a few weeks now, knowing that even tougher opponents than Malenia await him.
The DLC is on a completely different level. Everything just one-shots me. I’m getting to a point where I really need to learn the timing. But it’s great fun.
In the link box above you’ll find even more articles about gaming with disabilities. For example, this year at gamescom the award for Gaming without Borders will be presented again, which honors games, people and technologies that advocate for the accessibility of games. And if Elden Ring is too heavy for you, perhaps Szymon’s example could awaken new strength in you.
