Streaming Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of creative challenge runs that impose special restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous players have tried to complete the game with only a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to clear the adventure with a one stick—specifically, the exact same stick throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he played the title using only bombs or the attempt where he aimed to beat the story with zero energy. A one-branch run, however, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the entire game. But if the branch shatters, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The full answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” file where he advances standardly, and the actual file, where he's limited. The setup save has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this character gains maximum endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cinematic and halts midway through to instruct the game to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and generates a new game file that merges the states of the original two.

That creates fresh problems, however. The merged file has a protagonist that did not acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses readily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable version of the game that refuses to open certain locations. Like everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the software partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he is unable to break any tools he uses, likely to prevent a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he transfers across universes is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eliminates all potential difficulty. The branch is still a ineffective item that makes encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a matter of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of items to improve his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that enables Link to phase through the world. A few would find these methods grounds to question the validity of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He further uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll ban one viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

The streamer manages to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights appear painful. The video edit of his journey spares the viewer endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them take several hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible 23 hours. The final villain showdown, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is still only a piece of wood. He is unable to always duplicate objects midway the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, he does overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the final strike, so technically, it's not completely a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

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