7 Twitch Streamers To Watch If eSports Aren't Your Thing

Twitch has long outgrown its eSports roots. Yes, competitive gaming events continue to draw in huge viewership numbers, but Twitch has become something bigger than itself in recent years. In addition to eSports, you can find other great content like speedruns, Let’s Plays, community projects, and even live sessions of Dungeons and Dragons.

So if you don’t like eSports and you’ve written off Twitch as “not for you,” I implore you to reconsider. Here are some of the most entertaining Twitch streamers to watch who aren’t associated with eSports in any way.

Towelliee

Followers: ~278,000

Towelliee is one of the 50 Most Popular Streamers on Twitch according to SocialBlade rankings. He has the kind of personality and charisma that makes him difficult to tune off, even when the game he’s playing isn’t very interesting. His banter, his anecdotes, and his confidence are the main reasons for his popularity.

He mostly plays MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, ArcheAge, and Wildstar with a heavy focus on instance runs.

MANvsGAME

Followers: ~249,000

MANvsGAME is a Twitch streamer whose channel is built on a singular premise: “to beat every game worth a damn… and even some that aren’t.” It’s the gaming adaptation of other shows like Man vs. Wild and Man vs. Food and it works surprisingly well. The built-in narrative makes it that much more compelling to watch.

This streamer began his journey way back in 2010 and you can view the list of his completed games to see just how far he’s come. The added benefit is that he’s personable and fun to watch, though he may be a bit too energetic for some.

itsHafu

Followers: ~220,000

itsHafu is unique on this list for two reasons: 1) she’s female, and 2) she’s an ex-competitive gamer with a respectable win record in World of Warcraft‘s Arena PvP back in 2008. She doesn’t participate in eSports anymore, but her competitive side does come through in her current games, which include Hearthstone and League of Legends.

Her stream is relaxed and community-centric, and she engages with her followers, even going as far as playing a few games with them and teaching them how to improve.

LethalFrag

Followers: ~181,000

Most notable for his 2-year streaming challenge, in which he successfully streamed for 731 consecutive days in order to build his viewership, LethalFrag is a prime example of the Twitch success story. Through sheer dedication, he rose up from nobody status to being one of the Top 100 Most Popular Streamers on Twitch.

Despite his name, you won’t find much shooter-based fragging on his channel. Instead, he mostly plays indie games with high replayability, such as FTL, The Binding of Isaac, and Super Meat Boy.

DansGaming

Followers: ~168,000

DansGaming is a fun and mature streamer who engages heavily with his audience. At times he’ll just hang out without playing anything in order to relax with his followers and chat about whatever gaming topics happen to pop up.

However, most of the time, he plays a variety of single-player games like Skyrim and Diablo III; with the occasional foray into lesser-known titles like Prison Architect and Hohokum.

This is a fantastic channel to watch if you want something a bit mellower than usual without dipping into boring territory.

xSmaK

Followers: ~62,000

As one of the few Twitch streamers with an actual radio voice, xSmaK is a joy to watch. He has a certain calmness and maturity that most streamers lack, and that might be received as “boring” to some, but for me, that makes him one of the most watchable streamers out there.

For the most part, he plays a lot of the standalone version of DayZ, but every once in a while will delve into other games that provide him with a sense of challenge. Even if you’re like me and have never played DayZ, his stream is still worth watching for its mature atmosphere alone.

OPNerd

Followers: ~12,000

The other streamers on this list may dwarf OPNerd‘s follower numbers, but don’t hold that against him. He’s an upcoming figure who’s building up his fanbase one day at a time, reminiscent of what the aforementioned LethalFrag was doing just a couple of years ago. Given enough time, who knows how big he’ll end up being?

At the moment, he mainly plays Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, but there are days on his schedule that are set aside to play whatever other games he feels like playing. He plans to move onto other open-world RPGs when he completes his Fallout playthroughs, so expect his channel to focus primarily on that kind of gameplay.

Bonus: BandanaRob

Followers: ~1,800

Our very own Robert Wiesehan is also a streamer on Twitch, going by the name BandanaRob. He might not be a household name yet but his playthroughs are entertaining and his viewership is steadily growing thanks to his own tips on how to build a Twitch audience.

At the moment, he’s checking out the recently released Sims 4. Before that, he was playing Sims 3, Mass Effect, and Shadowrun Returns.

Who are your favorite Twitch streamers and why? Share with us in the comments below.