Streaming Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, while many gamers have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom with just a stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the individual who endeavored to beat the game with a single stick—meaning, the very same one from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch run, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is especially important when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the whole game. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The complete story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” save where he advances standardly, and the real file, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the intro and first starting area, and this character acquires maximum endurance and health. From here, he triggers a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the game to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and creates a third save file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That creates new problems, however. The merged file has a protagonist that did not obtain the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but executing it means relying on an buggy build of the title that fails to load certain areas. As with everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then patches the game partway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue form of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to damage any tools he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the wear problem, as the Link he pulls across universes is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eradicates all potential difficulty. The stick is still a weak item that renders battles tedious. But at that stage, it's all a question of grit and dedication. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful number of items to boost his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also makes use of a glitch that allows him to phase through the environment. A few would find these means reason to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He also implements a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll ban a fan from his live stream, establishing an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to get through many of the game's main enemies, but the fights appear painful. The YouTube version of his quest doesn't make the viewer endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them last several long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing twenty-three straight. The final villain showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is still only a stick. He is unable to always duplicate items during the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow does defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the software forces the player to use the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow banned more than 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. RIP.