Streaming Star Spends 37 Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. Yet, while numerous players have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom with only a wooden stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the game with a single branch—specifically, the exact same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the title solely with explosives or the attempt where he tried to beat the story with no energy. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the weakest tool in the entire world. But if the branch shatters, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he progresses standardly, and the real save, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the intro and initial tutorial island, and this Link acquires full stamina and hearts. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the game to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a new save file that combines the states of the original two.

That causes new issues, though. The fused file has a Link that never obtain the ability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy version of the game that fails to load certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory form of Link is coded so that he is unable to break any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the character he transfers between universes is the version from the start of the game. It's a smart technique, but not one that eradicates all potential friction. The branch is still a weak weapon that makes encounters tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of items to boost his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also employs a bug that enables him to clip through the environment. A few would find these means reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He further implements a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

PointCrow manages to get through many of the game's bosses, but the fights appear painful. The video edit of his quest doesn't make the audience endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them last several hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is after all just a stick. He can't necessarily duplicate items midway the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, he does defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the software forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite completely a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow banned more than 1,000 people in his live stream. RIP.