Streaming Star Dedicates 37 Hours Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Stick

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that impose special restrictions on a playthrough. However, although numerous gamers have attempted to complete the game with just a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to beat the adventure with a one stick—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he played the game using only explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the game with no stamina. A one-branch run, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole durability system, which is especially relevant when working with the most fragile tool in the whole world. Yet if the branch breaks, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward answer is exploits. The complete story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak the game's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” save where he advances standardly, and the actual file, where he's limited. The setup save has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this Link acquires maximum stamina and hearts. From here, he starts a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a new save file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

This creates new problems, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that never acquired the ability to access shrines. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch fixes easily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the game that fails to load some areas. Like everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the game midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any tools he uses, presumably to avoid a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the character he transfers across universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eradicates all possible friction. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective item that makes encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's all a matter of determination and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant supply of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a bug that allows Link to clip through the world. Some would consider these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He also implements a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll remove a viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear painful. The YouTube edit of his quest spares the audience endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them take multiple hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible 23 straight. The final villain showdown, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone items midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software forces the player to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so technically, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed more than a thousand users in his live stream. RIP.