Twitch Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while numerous players have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the individual who endeavored to clear the adventure with a one branch—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the time he played the title using only bombs or the attempt where he aimed to beat the story with no stamina. A one-branch run, though, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire durability system, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the most fragile tool in the whole world. Yet if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward answer is glitches. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” save where he progresses normally, and the real save, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this character acquires full endurance and health. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to instruct the game to load an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and generates a third game file that merges the conditions of the original two.

That causes fresh problems, though. The fused save file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but executing it means depending on an buggy build of the title that refuses to open some areas. Like everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is programmed so that he cannot break any tools he uses, presumably to prevent a situation where the user gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer gets around the wear issue, as the character he transfers between universes is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a clever trick, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is still a weak item that renders encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful supply of items to improve his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. Some would consider these methods grounds 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 also implements a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove a viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear grueling. The YouTube edit of his journey doesn't make the audience sit through the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them last several long hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's health as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is after all only a stick. He is unable to always duplicate items during the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, he does overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game forces the player to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.