Streaming Star Spends 37 Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Stick

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of novel challenge runs that apply special restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, although numerous gamers have tried to complete the game using only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the game with a single branch—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the instance he went through the title solely with explosives or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with no energy. A one-branch run, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the weakest tool in the whole game. But if the branch breaks, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple explanation is glitches. The complete story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate the game'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 real file, where he's limited. The setup save has him going through the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this Link acquires maximum endurance and health. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and halts partway through to tell the game to open an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and generates a new game file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

That creates new problems, however. The fused save file has a Link that never acquired the capability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the title that refuses to load some locations. Like everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its early version 1.0, and then patches the game partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is coded so that he is unable to damage any tools he uses, presumably to prevent a situation where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the wear problem, as the character he pulls between universes is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eliminates all potential difficulty. The branch is still a ineffective item that makes encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's all a question of grit and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful number of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally employs a bug that allows Link to clip through the environment. A few would consider these means reason to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He also implements a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll remove a fan from his live stream, establishing an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles look grueling. The YouTube version of his journey spares the viewer endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The final villain battle, which erases Link's health as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is after all just a stick. He is unable to always clone items midway the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game forces the player to use the legendary weapon as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over a thousand users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.