Twitch Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique rules on a playthrough. However, although many players have tried to finish the game using only a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who endeavored to beat the adventure with a one stick—meaning, the very same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, 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 one-branch run, though, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially relevant when working with the most fragile tool in the whole world. But if the branch breaks, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So the creator creates a “setup” save where he advances standardly, and the actual file, where he's limited. The preparatory save has him going through the prologue and first tutorial island, and this Link acquires full endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cutscene and halts midway through to tell the game to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and creates a new save file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This creates new problems, though. The merged save file has a Link that never obtain the capability to access sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable build of the game that refuses to load certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the software partway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory form of Link is coded so that he cannot break any tools he wields, presumably to avoid a scenario where the player gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability issue, as the character he pulls between universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eliminates all possible friction. The branch is still a ineffective weapon that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a question of grit and perseverance. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He also makes use of a glitch that enables Link to clip through the world. A few would find these means reason to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll ban one fan from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to get through many of the game's bosses, but the battles look painful. The YouTube version of his quest spares the audience endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when a few of them take multiple long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three straight. The final villain showdown, which erases Link's health as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible branch is still only a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone items midway the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the software forces the player to use the Master Sword as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed over 1,000 users in his live stream. Rest in peace.