Hamlinz explains why he stepped away from Twitch in emotional return

Darryle ‘Hamlinz’ Hamlin is finally back on Twitch, and he told fans the heartbreaking reason why he decided to step away from the platform.

Hamlinz used to be one of the biggest names on Twitch. His popularity peaked during the rise of Fortnite’s success. However, he disappeared from the platform around two years ago along with his friend Daequan ‘Daequan’ Loco. But after teasing their return, they finally confirmed they were coming back and announced a Twitch return was imminent. Daequan’s already happened, and Hamlinz followed it up with his own on September 12. One of the first things he mentioned was what made him step away from streaming in the first place: Losing his grandfather.

“Basically, what happened is, around 2015, my grandpa passed away,” he said. “I was really close to him, and it was hard for me. I forced myself into streaming when I shouldn’t have forced myself into streaming.” Hamlinz explained that he should have taken a one-month break. But instead, he forced himself into streaming when he wasn’t ready as a coping mechanism. “It just made it worse, and until eventually, I was like, I need to step away.

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“I busted my a** to get back. I meditated two or three times a day. I watched positive sh*t. I tried my best to make sure my mental was good.” And it worked because now he’s “back and better than ever.”

Hamlinz then kicked things off by jumping into Rust. However, you can expect to see him play a variety of games, including Fortnite.

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With their new content house, you can expect plenty more to come out from both Hamlinz and Daequan — a duo Twitch has sorely missed over the last two years.