Twitch Star Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Stick

You might assume that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that apply unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although numerous gamers have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the individual who endeavored to clear the game with a single branch—meaning, the very same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the title using only bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the story with zero energy. A single stick playthrough, however, sounds impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole durability system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the whole world. Yet if the branch breaks, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple answer is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's limited. The preparatory save has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this Link acquires maximum endurance and hearts. From here, he triggers a cinematic and pauses midway through to tell the software to load an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets confused and generates a third game file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This causes fresh problems, however. The merged save file has a Link that never acquired the capability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy build of the game that refuses to load some locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is coded so that he is unable to break any weapons he uses, likely to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability problem, as the character he pulls across dimensions is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all possible friction. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective item that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He also makes use of a glitch that allows him to phase through the environment. A few would find these means reason to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He further uses a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll ban a viewer from his live stream, creating an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through many of the game's bosses, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the audience sit through the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them last several long hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all only a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone objects midway the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the user to use the legendary weapon as the final 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. RIP.