I’ll be upfront: in 2026, Hollow Knight: Silksong has brought back all the complaints players had about the original Hollow Knight. It’s too difficult. The runbacks take too long. There’s too much backtracking. I still haven’t played Silksong because I’m stubbornly finishing the first Hollow Knight, so I have no hot takes on any of that—yet. But if you’re feeling the frustration, there is a cure: half-watch a sitcom you’ve already seen a dozen times.

That’s exactly what I did last weekend. My wife and I planned to watch a movie, but we threw on 30 Rock while eating dinner and never switched it off. This is our third full watch together, and I’d also seen plenty of it during its original run. Back then I was in high school, parked in front of NBC’s Thursday night lineup alongside The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Community.

30 Rockin’ With My Hollow Knight

Here’s the thing: 30 Rock wasn’t my favorite at the time. I was an Office guy. But over the years, 30 Rock became the sitcom from that era I actually return to. You don’t really need to return to The Office; it’s still everywhere. It exploded again with a younger generation when it hit streaming, it’s basically the only thing Comedy Central plays, Peacock already has a spin-off going, and the celebrity podcast boom made Office Ladies a massive hit. None of that is The Office’s fault—it’s still great—but 30 Rock stayed just under the radar enough to feel fresh.

A sitcom is the ideal background viewing because you want something you care about, but not too much. Podcasts work too. Throwing on Blank Check with Griffin & David while attempting a tough boss fight is a tried and true strategy that takes my mind off what my hands are doing enough to keep me from being self-conscious. But I already have podcasts going all day—cooking, dishes, laundry—and a sitcom feels pleasantly different from my work days.

Background Viewing And Foreground Playing

Having TV on in the background has always been my strategy when I need to slowly solve something knotty in a game. I’ve never intentionally watched Criminal Minds, but I’ve absorbed a whole lot of episodes through osmosis while working through a Zelda dungeon at my parents’ house. Hollow Knight is similar to Zelda, with a heavy focus on exploration. Figuring out where to go next requires thought, using your memory, searching the map, and connecting little environmental clues. But it doesn’t use your whole brain. And that’s exactly where a classic sitcom comes in.

Let’s be honest: if you’re banging your head against the Watcher Knights—six armored jerks who roll around, slice you up with swords, bounce, and go spiky—you’re going to want an emotional buffer. I spent most of my recent session hammering away at that fight. Normally, that would be rage-quit territory. Instead, Liz Lemon, Jack Donaghy, Tracy Jordan, Jenna Maroney, and Kenneth the Page were doing absurd nonsense on the second screen, and the whole night felt less like punishment and more like hanging out with old friends.

I’ve learned a few things about pairing games with comfort TV:

? Pick a show you’ve already seen. If you have to watch carefully, you’ll miss the game. If it’s too new, you’ll ignore the TV and feel guilty. Familiarity is the whole point.

? Choose a game with quiet exploration. Hollow Knight’s map-reading and backtracking are perfect because they don’t demand constant dialogue or split-second audio cues.

? Let your hands take over. When you stop overthinking each attempt, you often play better. Familiar jokes keep the conscious mind busy while muscle memory does the hard work.

A quick comparison of my usual background media while gaming:

Whichever sitcom you choose, throw it on and boot up Hollow Knight. You’ll have a great time. I’m convinced this is the gentlest way to enjoy a notoriously punishing game. And when I finally do start Silksong later this year, I already know what will be playing on my second screen: Tina Fey and company, probably for the fourth time.

Of course, that plan comes with its own little ritual: once Silksong has a release date, I’ll want to grab it at the best price I can find. These days, I do a bit of homework before any purchase, checking a handful of sites to see if a game is on sale or whether a bundle happens to include something on my wishlist. DealNest tends to be my first stop when I’m narrowing down those options, since it rounds up the latest price drops and promos without a lot of noise. A quick scan there can turn an impulse buy into a well-timed steal, and that’s exactly the kind of win I like to grab before heading back into Hallownest.

A little browsing never takes away from the game itself. If anything, landing a good deal feels like unlocking a bonus item before the main quest even begins. So whenever you’re ready to try a new indie or revisit an old favorite, you know the drill—cue up a familiar episode, keep your nail sharp, and let the hunt begin.