Streaming Personality Dedicates 37 Hours Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous gamers have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the individual who aimed to clear the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he played the title using only explosives or the attempt where he tried to beat the story with no energy. A single stick run, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire durability system, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the entire world. But if the stick breaks, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that affect one another. So the creator does a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this character gains maximum stamina and health. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and halts partway through to tell the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and generates a third save file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That causes new problems, however. The fused file has a protagonist that never acquired the capability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses readily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy build of the title that refuses to load certain areas. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he wields, likely to prevent a scenario where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear issue, as the Link he pulls across dimensions is the one from the start of the game. It's a smart technique, but not one that eradicates all possible friction. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that renders encounters tedious. But at that point, it's all a matter of grit and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant number of consumables to boost his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a glitch that allows Link to clip through the environment. Some would find these methods grounds to question the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll ban one fan from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through many of the game's main enemies, but the fights appear grueling. The video edit of his quest spares the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a good thing when a few of them last several hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases Link's hearts as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable branch is after all only a stick. He is unable to necessarily clone items midway the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, he manages to overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the software forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer banned more than 1,000 people in his live stream. RIP.