Streaming Personality Spends 37 Straight Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, while numerous players have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom using only a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who endeavored to clear the adventure with a single branch—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the time he went through the game using only bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the story with no energy. A single stick playthrough, though, sounds impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire game. But if the branch shatters, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

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 tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So the creator does a “setup” file where he progresses standardly, and the real save, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him completing the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum stamina and health. From this point, he starts a cinematic and halts partway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and creates a third save file that combines the conditions of the original two.

This creates fresh issues, however. The fused file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to access shrines. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable build of the game that fails to open some areas. Like everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the game partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Challenges

Curiously, the introductory version of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any weapons he wields, presumably to avoid a scenario where the user gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the durability issue, as the character he pulls across universes is the version from the start of the story. It's a clever technique, but not one that eradicates all potential friction. The branch is still a weak weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant number of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a bug that allows Link to phase through the world. Some would find these methods grounds to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He also uses a penalty of sorts stating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear grueling. The video version of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them last several hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The final villain battle, which depletes the hero's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily clone items during the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the user to use the Master Sword as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed over a thousand users in his live stream. Rest in peace.