Twitch Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that apply special rules on a gameplay session. However, while many gamers have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom using just a stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the player who aimed to beat the adventure with a single branch—meaning, the exact same one throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the instance he played the game using only bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the story with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, though, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the weakest tool in the whole world. But if the branch shatters, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple explanation is exploits. The complete story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he progresses standardly, and the actual save, where he's limited. The setup file has him completing the prologue and first starting area, and this character acquires maximum endurance and health. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses midway through to tell the software to open an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a new game file that combines the conditions of the original two.

This causes fresh problems, however. The fused save file has a protagonist that never acquired the capability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the title that refuses to open some locations. As with other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory form of the hero is coded so that he is unable to break any weapons he wields, likely to prevent a scenario where the user gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the durability issue, as the Link he pulls across universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a weak item that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally employs a bug that enables Link to phase through the environment. A few would find these means reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He further uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

The streamer manages to get through several of the game's bosses, but the fights appear painful. The video edit of his quest spares the viewer sit through the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is after all only a stick. He can't necessarily clone objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow does defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game compels the user to use the Master Sword as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer banned over a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.