Streaming Star Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Beat <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 self-imposed challenges that apply unique restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, although numerous players have attempted to complete the game using only a wooden stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who endeavored to clear the game with a one branch—meaning, the exact same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the title solely with bombs or the effort where he aimed to beat the game with no stamina. A single stick playthrough, however, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when dealing with the most fragile tool in the whole game. But if the branch breaks, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The full answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So the creator creates a “setup” file where he progresses standardly, and the real save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this Link gains full stamina and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and halts partway through to instruct the game to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets confused and generates a third save file that merges the states of the original two.

That causes fresh problems, however. The merged save file has a protagonist that never acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses easily, but executing it means relying on an unstable version of the game that refuses to open some locations. As with other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He starts the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory version of Link is coded so that he cannot break any tools he wields, presumably to prevent a scenario where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer gets around the durability problem, as the character he transfers between universes is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eliminates all possible difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a weak item that renders encounters tedious. But at that point, it's all a matter of determination and dedication. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful number of consumables to boost his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He also employs a glitch that enables Link to clip through the world. Some would find these means grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further implements a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll remove one viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The YouTube version of his quest spares the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing 23 hours. The Ganondorf battle, which erases the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible stick is still just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily duplicate objects during the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software forces the user to use the Master Sword as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than 1,000 people in his live stream. RIP.