Twitch Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Stick

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have exhausted novel challenge runs that impose special restrictions on a playthrough. However, although many players have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom using only a stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a single branch—specifically, the exact same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, like the instance he went through the title using only explosives or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the story with no stamina. A single stick playthrough, though, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the weakest tool in the entire game. But if the stick shatters, that's it. 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. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” save where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him going through the intro and initial tutorial island, and this Link acquires full stamina and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses midway through to instruct the software to open an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and generates a new save file that merges the conditions of the original two.

That causes fresh issues, however. The fused file has a Link that never obtain the capability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy version of the game that refuses to open some locations. Like everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the game partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Curiously, the prologue form of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to damage any tools he uses, likely to prevent a situation where the user gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he transfers between dimensions is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all potential difficulty. The stick is still a ineffective item that renders battles onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of grit and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that allows him to phase through the environment. A few would find these methods grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll remove a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

The streamer succeeds to defeat many of the game's main enemies, but the fights look painful. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an incredible 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases the hero's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible branch is still just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily duplicate objects during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over a thousand people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.