Twitch Star Spends 37 Straight Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, although many gamers have attempted to complete the game with only a wooden stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the player who aimed to beat the adventure with a one branch—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he went through the game using only explosives or the effort where he aimed to beat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest tool in the whole game. Yet if the stick breaks, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The complete answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he advances standardly, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The setup save has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this character acquires full endurance and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and pauses midway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and creates a new game file that merges the states of the first two files.

That causes new issues, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that never obtain the ability to access sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable build of the game that fails to load some locations. As with everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He starts the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory version of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the durability problem, as the Link he pulls across universes is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a smart trick, but not one that eliminates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a weak item that makes battles tedious. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful number of items to boost his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He also employs a bug that enables Link to clip through the environment. A few would find these means grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He further implements a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll remove one viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

The streamer succeeds to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear grueling. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them take multiple long hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable branch is after all only a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily duplicate items during the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he manages to overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the software forces the player to wield the legendary weapon as the final strike, so technically, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned over a thousand users in his live stream. Rest in peace.