Streaming Star Dedicates 37 Hours Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, while many gamers have tried to complete the game using only a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single branch—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for such challenge runs, like the instance he played the title using only explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch playthrough, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the weakest weapon in the entire world. But if the stick shatters, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple explanation is exploits. The full answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator does a “preparation” save where he progresses normally, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The setup save has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this character gains full stamina and health. From this point, he starts a cinematic and halts midway through to instruct the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and creates a new save file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

This causes fresh problems, though. The merged save file has a Link that never obtain the ability to access shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes easily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the game that fails to open certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to break any tools he wields, presumably to prevent a scenario where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart trick, but not one that eliminates all potential difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that makes battles onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful supply of items to boost his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also makes use of a glitch that enables him to phase through the environment. Some would consider these methods grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He further implements a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll remove a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last 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 quest spares the audience endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when a few of them take multiple hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three straight. The final villain showdown, which depletes Link's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all only a stick. He can't always duplicate objects during the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the software forces the player to wield the Master Sword as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer banned more than a thousand users in his Twitch chat. RIP.