After spending 167 hours on stream playing the grim and twisted RPG “Elden Ring,” streamer Kai Cenat conquered the hardest boss. Trapped in a room decked out in medieval flair with a dragon and Iron Throne, Cenat died in the game over 1,600 times since his start on May 10.
With over 10.5 million Twitch followers, tens of thousands of viewers tuned in over the seven-day marathon to enjoy the chaos. Peak viewership reached a max of approximately 230,000 concurrent live viewers.
The grind started almost immediately, with Cenat spending over six hours beating the game’s first difficult boss, the Tree Sentinel. Normally, players realize that they are ill-equipped to take on the dreaded knight. But Cenat decided to power through, which was the theme of the entire marathon.
Hour after hour he spent grinding each boss, with some of the most difficult bringing him to tears or leading him to chuck his controller through a window live on camera.
Elden Ring Out
The stream captured the imagination of gamers on social media. Especially those who have struggled with the incredibly difficult and time-consuming process of beating the game’s bosses.
Viewers on X wrote that Cenat’s “dedication is insane.” Another said it’s “one of the best feelings a gamer can have.” Compilations of Cenat raging pulled in hundreds of thousands of views in just a couple of days.
As the marathon went on Cenat started to show some improvement in the game. 74 hours into his playthrough, Kick streamer and edge lord Adin Ross bet $100,000 that Cenat couldn’t beat the game’s seventh boss Godfrey, First Elden Lord, on his first try. Cenat manages to do it with ease.
But Malenia, the most difficult boss, truly pushed the streamer’s limits. He spent over 30 hours and died over 400 times before finally taking down Malenia, ending the marathon.
Collapsing on the floor and reveling in his victory, Cenat called Elden Ring a “masterpiece” and “absolute cinema.”
Rebirth, IGN, and Rage
After Cenat’s win, many fans on the internet celebrated the victory in their parasocial way. But not everyone felt the same way about Cenat, who has dealt with a fair share of controversies over the years.
In addition to starting a partnership with streaming platform Rumble, which hosts a number of alt-right figures, Cenat has also faced accusations that a woman was sexually assaulted at one of his parties. Most recently, Cenat was charged with starting a riot in New York’s Union Square, though the charges have since been dropped since he issued an apology.
In IGN’s tweet covering the marathon, the video game site mentioned the latter controversy. This move quickly pulled the ire of the web. Cenat posted his feelings to the point: “fuck IGN.”
After 16 hours, IGN deleted the tweet and changed the original article’s headline. It also issued an apology, saying they were “couching it in something that has nothing to do with Elden Ring.” Cenat responded to the apology with a video of him smoking a cigar and dancing.
While not everyone wants to overlook his past mistakes, you’ve got to hand it to Cenat for his level of commitment to the marathon. In April, Cenat live-streamed himself beating the just as difficult “Ghost of Tsushima” while cosplaying as a samurai. It was a step outside of his comfort zone. But the 24-hour stream pulled in millions of social media impressions, leading him to try Elden Ring.
Gamers know the difficulty of Elden Ring, so seeing each high and low of their favorite creator’s gaming journey allows them to feel a connection. Regardless of all the controversy associated with Cenat, it’s clear that creators with the time and the nerve needed to accomplish a difficult task can really rake in the clout on social media.
