Twitch Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>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 unique rules on a gameplay session. However, while many gamers have tried to complete the game using just a wooden stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a single stick—specifically, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the title solely with bombs or the effort where he tried to beat the game with no energy. A one-branch run, however, seems impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire durability system, which is especially important when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire game. Yet if the stick shatters, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple answer is exploits. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So the creator does a “setup” file where he advances standardly, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The setup save has him completing the prologue and first starting area, and this Link gains maximum endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cutscene and pauses midway through to tell the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a new save file that combines the conditions of the original two.

This causes fresh problems, though. The fused file has a protagonist that did not acquired the capability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit addresses readily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy version of the title that fails to load certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then updates the game partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to break any tools he wields, presumably to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer gets around the wear issue, as the Link he transfers between universes is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eradicates all possible difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a weak weapon that makes battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of determination and perseverance. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally employs a bug that enables him to phase through the world. Some would consider these methods grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He further implements a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll remove a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

The streamer manages to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles appear grueling. The video version 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, requires an astonishing 23 hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all just a stick. He is unable to always clone objects midway the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to use the Master Sword as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow banned over 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. RIP.