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

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although many players have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom using only a stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the individual who endeavored to beat the game with a single branch—specifically, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the title solely with explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the game with zero energy. A single stick run, though, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the entire world. Yet if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's limited. The setup file has him completing the prologue and first starting area, and this character acquires maximum endurance and hearts. From here, he starts a cutscene and halts partway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a new save file that merges the conditions of the original two.

That causes new issues, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that never acquired the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the title that refuses to open certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then updates the software midway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is programmed so that he is unable to break any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the wear problem, as the Link he transfers between dimensions is the one from the start of the game. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The branch is still a ineffective weapon that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a question of grit and perseverance. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful number of items to boost his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He also employs a bug that enables him to phase through the world. Some would find these methods grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He also implements a penalty of kinds stating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll remove a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

The streamer manages to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The YouTube edit of his journey doesn't make the audience sit through the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them last several long hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible 23 hours. The final villain battle, which depletes Link's hearts as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all only a piece of wood. He can't always clone items during the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the software compels the user to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned more than 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.