Streaming Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that impose special restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, while numerous players have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom using only a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who endeavored to clear the game with a one branch—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he played the game using only bombs or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the story with no energy. A single stick run, though, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially important when dealing with the most fragile tool in the whole game. Yet if the stick breaks, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple explanation is exploits. The complete answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So the creator does a “preparation” file where he advances standardly, and the real file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and initial starting area, and this character acquires full endurance and health. From here, he starts a cinematic and halts midway through to instruct the game to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and creates a third game file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That causes fresh problems, though. The fused save file has a Link that did not obtain the ability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy version of the title that refuses to open some areas. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to ensure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the wear problem, as the character he pulls across universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one 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 aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful supply of consumables to boost his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also employs a glitch that allows Link to phase through the environment. A few would consider these methods reason to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He also uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to avoid 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 look grueling. The video version of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when a few of them last several long hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf battle, which erases Link's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is still only a stick. He can't necessarily clone objects midway the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so technically, it's not completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed over a thousand users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.