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

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique rules on a playthrough. However, while numerous players have attempted to complete the game with only a stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to beat the game with a single branch—meaning, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is famous for such challenge runs, like the instance he went through the title solely with bombs or the effort where he aimed to beat the game with no energy. A single stick run, however, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole durability system, which is especially relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the whole game. Yet if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward answer is exploits. The full story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he progresses normally, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and first starting area, and this character acquires full endurance and health. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and pauses midway through to tell the game to load an auto-save from the stick file. The game gets confused and creates a new save file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

That causes fresh issues, however. The merged file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit addresses readily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable version of the game that refuses to open certain areas. As with everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory form of the hero is coded so that he cannot break any tools he wields, likely to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the wear problem, as the Link he pulls between universes is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eliminates all possible friction. The branch is nonetheless a weak weapon that makes encounters tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of determination and perseverance. It also 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 also employs a glitch that enables him to clip through the environment. Some would find these methods grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He further implements a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll remove a viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

The streamer succeeds to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the battles appear grueling. The YouTube edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them take several long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three straight. The final villain showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is after all just a stick. He is unable to always duplicate objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the user to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so technically, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. RIP.