Twitch Star Spends 37 Hours Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted novel challenge runs that apply unique rules on a gameplay session. Yet, although numerous gamers have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom using just a stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to clear the adventure with a single branch—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the instance he played the title using only explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, sounds impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the weakest weapon in the entire game. But if the branch shatters, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward answer is exploits. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he progresses standardly, and the actual file, where he's limited. The setup file has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this character gains full endurance and hearts. From here, he starts a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a new game file that combines the conditions of the original two.

This creates new problems, though. The merged file has a protagonist that never obtain the capability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch fixes easily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable version of the title that refuses to load some areas. Like everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the game midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Curiously, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he is unable to damage any tools he uses, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's also how the streamer gets around the durability problem, as the Link he pulls across universes is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a clever trick, but not one that eradicates all potential friction. The branch is still a weak item that renders encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a bug that enables him to phase through the world. A few would find these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He also implements a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll ban a fan from his live stream, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

The streamer manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights appear grueling. The YouTube version of his quest spares the viewer sit through the whole fights, which is a blessing when a few of them last several hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still just a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily duplicate objects during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game compels the user to use the Master Sword as the final strike, so technically, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed over 1,000 people in his live stream. RIP.