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

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, while numerous players have attempted to finish the game using only a stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the exact same stick throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he played the game using only bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the entire world. Yet if the stick breaks, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple answer is exploits. The complete answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he advances normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this character gains maximum stamina and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and halts partway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and generates a new save file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That creates fresh problems, however. The merged file has a Link that never acquired the ability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit addresses easily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the title that fails to load certain locations. As with everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the game partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he is unable to break any weapons he uses, presumably to prevent a scenario where the player gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the one from the start of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all possible difficulty. The branch is still a ineffective item that makes battles tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also makes use of a glitch that allows him to phase through the world. Some would consider these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll remove one viewer from his live stream, creating an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles look grueling. The YouTube edit of his journey doesn't make the audience sit through the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them take several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases the hero's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is still just a stick. He is unable to always duplicate objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow does overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the software forces the user to use the Master Sword as the final strike, so technically, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer banned more than 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. RIP.