Twitch Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

You might assume that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative challenge runs that impose special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while many players have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single stick—specifically, the exact same one from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he went through the title solely with explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the game with zero stamina. A one-branch run, however, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire world. Yet if the stick shatters, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” save where he advances standardly, and the real file, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this Link acquires maximum stamina and health. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the game to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and creates a third save file that combines the states of the first two files.

This creates fresh issues, however. The merged 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 relying on an buggy build of the title that refuses to load certain locations. As with everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a situation where the user gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the wear problem, as the character he transfers between universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a smart trick, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is nonetheless a weak weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant number of items to improve his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a glitch that allows him to phase through the world. A few would find these methods reason to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He further implements a penalty of kinds stating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll ban one fan from his live stream, creating an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to get through many of the game's bosses, but the fights look painful. The video edit of his quest spares the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which depletes the hero's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is still only a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone objects during the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the player to wield the Master Sword as the last strike, so technically, it's not fully a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer removed more than a thousand users in his Twitch chat. RIP.