Twitch Star Spends 37 Hours Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that impose special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while many players have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom using just a stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a single branch—specifically, the exact same stick throughout.

The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he played the game solely with explosives or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, seems impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is especially important when working with the weakest weapon in the entire world. But if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” save where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this Link gains maximum stamina and hearts. From here, he triggers a cinematic and halts midway through to tell the game to load an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and generates a third save file that merges the conditions of the original two.

That causes new issues, however. The fused file has a Link that did not obtain the ability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy build of the game that fails to open certain locations. As with everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then updates the game partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a scenario where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the durability problem, as the character he transfers between universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a smart trick, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The branch is still a ineffective item that makes encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful number of items to improve his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that enables Link to clip through the world. A few would find these means reason to question the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He also uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll ban one viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights appear grueling. The YouTube edit of his journey doesn't make the audience endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them last multiple hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an incredible 23 straight. The final villain showdown, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is after all just a stick. He can't necessarily duplicate items during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he does defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the software compels the player to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed more than 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. RIP.