Twitch Star Dedicates 37 Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that impose special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although many players have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the player who endeavored to beat the game with a one branch—specifically, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he went through the title solely with bombs or the effort where he tried to defeat the story with no energy. A one-branch playthrough, though, seems impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when dealing with the most fragile tool in the entire world. But if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple answer is glitches. The full answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him completing the intro and first starting area, and this character gains full endurance and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the game to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and generates a third save file that combines the states of the first two files.

That creates new issues, however. The merged file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to access sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but executing it means relying on an unstable version of the game that fails to load certain locations. As with everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the software partway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory version of Link is coded so that he cannot break any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's also how the streamer gets around the wear problem, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the version from the start of the story. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eliminates all possible friction. The branch is still a weak weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of consumables to boost his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a glitch that enables Link to phase through the environment. A few would consider these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He further uses a penalty of sorts stating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll ban a fan from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

The streamer manages to defeat many of the game's main enemies, but the fights look grueling. The video version of his quest doesn't make the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is after all just a stick. He can't always duplicate items during the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the software compels 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 live stream. Rest in peace.