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

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that impose special rules on a gameplay session. However, while numerous players have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom using just a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who endeavored to beat the adventure with a one stick—meaning, the very same one throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the time he played the game using only explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is especially relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole game. But if the stick breaks, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The complete answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this Link gains maximum stamina and hearts. From here, he triggers a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a third game file that combines the states of the original two.

This creates new issues, however. The merged save file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy version of the game 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 begins working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is coded so that he is unable to break any tools he wields, presumably to avoid a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the durability problem, as the character he transfers across dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all possible difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a weak item that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant number of consumables to boost his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a bug that enables him to clip through the world. Some would find these means reason to discredit the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further implements a penalty of kinds stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll ban a fan from his live stream, creating an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through several of the game's main enemies, but the battles appear painful. The YouTube version of his journey doesn't make the audience endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when some of them take multiple hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf battle, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is still only a stick. He can't always clone items during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game compels the player to use the Master Sword as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned over 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. RIP.