Twitch Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel challenge runs that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. However, although numerous gamers have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom with just a stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the individual who endeavored to beat the game with a single branch—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the title using only bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the story with zero stamina. A single stick run, though, seems impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire durability system, which is particularly important when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire game. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple answer is exploits. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” save where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this character gains maximum stamina and hearts. From this point, he starts a cinematic and halts partway through to tell the game to load an auto-save from the stick file. The game gets confused and generates a new game file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

This creates new issues, however. The merged file has a Link that never acquired the ability to access shrines. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy build of the game that fails to load certain areas. As with everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the game partway through to ensure it starts working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to break any weapons he uses, likely to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability problem, as the Link he transfers across dimensions is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eradicates all potential difficulty. The stick is still a ineffective item that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of items to improve his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally employs a bug that allows him to clip through the world. Some would consider these means reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He further uses a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll remove one viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to get through many of the game's main enemies, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube edit of his quest spares the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple long hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf battle, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is after all just a stick. He can't necessarily duplicate objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow does overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the player to wield the Master Sword as the last strike, so technically, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over a thousand users in his Twitch chat. RIP.