Streaming Star Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that apply special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although numerous players have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom with only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a one stick—specifically, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the instance he went through the game solely with bombs or the effort where he tried to defeat the game with zero energy. A single stick playthrough, though, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire durability system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the entire game. Yet if the branch shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is exploits. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So the creator creates a “setup” file where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The setup save has him going through the prologue and initial starting area, and this character acquires full stamina and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a new game file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

This creates new problems, however. The fused file has a Link that never obtain the ability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes easily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy build of the title that fails to open some locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the software partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue form of the hero is coded so that he cannot break any tools he uses, presumably to avoid a situation where the user gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he transfers between dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all potential difficulty. The branch is still a ineffective weapon that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a question of grit and perseverance. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant supply of items to boost his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a glitch that enables him to phase through the environment. A few would find these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He further uses a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll remove one fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

PointCrow manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the viewer sit through the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an incredible 23 hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes Link's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is after all only a stick. He is unable to always duplicate items during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the user to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer banned over a thousand users in his Twitch chat. RIP.