Streaming Personality Dedicates 37 Hours Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while many players have tried to finish the game using only a stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the individual who endeavored to clear the adventure with a single branch—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 solely with explosives or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the story with no energy. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole world. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The complete answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So the creator does a “setup” file where he advances standardly, and the actual save, where he's limited. The preparatory save has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this character acquires full stamina and health. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and pauses partway through to tell the game to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a new game file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That creates new issues, though. The fused file has a protagonist that never acquired the capability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy build of the game that refuses to load certain areas. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts the game on its early version 1.0, and then updates the software partway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he uses, presumably to avoid a scenario where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the durability issue, as the character he pulls across dimensions is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eliminates all potential difficulty. The stick is still a weak item that renders battles tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He also makes use of a glitch that enables him to phase through the environment. A few would find these means reason to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove a fan from his live stream, establishing an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through several of the game's bosses, but the battles look painful. The YouTube edit of his quest spares the viewer sit through the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them take several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which erases the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all just a piece of wood. He can't always duplicate objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the software compels the user to wield 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, the streamer removed over a thousand users in his Twitch chat. RIP.