Streaming Personality Spends 37 Straight Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that apply special rules on a gameplay session. However, while many players have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom using just a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the player who endeavored to beat the game with a one branch—meaning, the exact same one from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the title using only bombs or the attempt where he tried to beat the story with zero energy. A single stick playthrough, however, seems impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is especially important when working with the weakest tool in the whole game. Yet if the branch shatters, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The full answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him going through the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum stamina and health. From here, he triggers a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the software to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and creates a new game file that combines the states of the original two.

This causes new problems, though. The fused save file has a Link that never acquired the capability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch addresses easily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable version of the game that refuses to load some areas. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the game midway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory version of Link is programmed so that he is unable to break any tools he wields, presumably to avoid a situation where the user gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the durability problem, as the character he transfers across dimensions is the version from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The branch is still a weak weapon that makes encounters tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and dedication. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a glitch that allows him to phase through the world. A few would find these means grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He also implements a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

PointCrow manages to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the battles appear painful. The video edit of his journey spares the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing 23 hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all just a stick. He is unable to always clone objects during the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow manages to overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the software compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned more than a thousand users in his live stream. Rest in peace.