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

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply special rules on a gameplay session. However, although many gamers have attempted to finish the game with only a stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the player who endeavored to beat the game with a one stick—specifically, the exact same one throughout.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the game using only explosives or the effort where he aimed to beat the story with no energy. A one-branch run, though, sounds impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially important when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the entire game. Yet if the branch shatters, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The full answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” file where he advances normally, and the real file, where he's limited. The setup file has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this Link acquires full endurance and health. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and creates a third game file that merges the states of the first two files.

That creates new issues, however. The fused file has a Link that never obtain the ability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable build of the title that fails to load certain areas. Like everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory version of Link is programmed so that he cannot break any weapons he uses, presumably to avoid a situation where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's also how the streamer gets around the wear problem, as the Link he pulls between universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a weak weapon that makes battles onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful number of items to boost his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a glitch that allows Link to clip through the environment. A few would find these methods grounds to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He also implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll remove a viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to get through several of the game's main enemies, but the fights look grueling. The video edit of his journey spares the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The final villain showdown, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is after all just a stick. He can't necessarily clone objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the final attack, so technically, it's not completely a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer removed over a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.