Twitch Star Spends 37 Straight Trying to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although numerous players have tried to finish the game using only a stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single stick—specifically, the very same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he went through the title using only bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the story with zero energy. A single stick run, however, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the weakest tool in the entire game. But if the branch breaks, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The full answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So the creator does a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him completing the prologue and first tutorial island, and this Link acquires maximum stamina and health. From here, he starts a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the game to load an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a new save file that merges the states of the first two files.

This creates fresh issues, however. The merged save file has a Link that never obtain the ability to access sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses easily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable build of the game that refuses to load some areas. Like everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software partway through to ensure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory version of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to break any tools he uses, likely to prevent a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the durability problem, as the character he pulls between dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all potential difficulty. The stick is still a weak weapon that makes encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful number of items to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He also employs a glitch that allows him to phase through the world. Some would find these methods grounds to question the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll ban a viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

The streamer succeeds to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights appear grueling. The video edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the entire fights, which is a blessing when some of them last multiple hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible 23 straight. The final villain battle, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily duplicate items midway the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, he manages to overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the user to wield the Master Sword as the last strike, so technically, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer banned more than 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. RIP.