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

You might assume that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply unique rules on a playthrough. However, although numerous players have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to beat the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he went through the title using only explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the game with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, however, seems impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is especially important when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole world. Yet if the branch breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator creates a “setup” save where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this Link acquires maximum stamina and health. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and halts partway through to instruct the software to load an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a third save file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

This creates new issues, however. The fused file has a protagonist that never obtain the capability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but executing it means relying on an buggy version of the title that fails to load certain areas. Like other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the software partway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue form of Link is programmed so that he cannot break any weapons he wields, likely to prevent a scenario where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the wear problem, as the Link he pulls between universes is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eradicates all potential friction. The branch is still a ineffective weapon that renders encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful number of items to improve his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally employs a bug that allows him to phase through the world. Some would find these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He further implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

The streamer succeeds to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear grueling. The YouTube edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple long hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which erases Link's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is after all only a stick. He can't always duplicate items midway the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, he does defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game compels the player to use the Master Sword as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed over 1,000 users in his live stream. RIP.