Streaming Star Dedicates 37 Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel challenge runs that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. However, although numerous gamers have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the game with a single branch—specifically, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is renowned for such challenge runs, like the time he played the game solely with explosives or the attempt where he aimed to beat the game with no energy. A single stick run, though, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is especially important when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole game. But if the branch shatters, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple explanation is exploits. The full answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” save where he progresses standardly, and the real save, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and first tutorial island, and this character acquires full endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cutscene and halts partway through to instruct the game to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and creates a new game file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

This causes fresh problems, however. The merged save file has a protagonist that never acquired the capability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes easily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the game that refuses to open some areas. As with other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the game partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory form of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to break any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the durability problem, as the Link he pulls across universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eliminates all possible friction. The stick is still a ineffective item that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful supply of items to boost his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He also makes use of a bug that enables him to clip through the environment. Some would consider these means grounds to discredit the validity of the attempt, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He also implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to defeat several of the game's main enemies, but the fights appear grueling. The video edit of his journey spares the audience sit through the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them take several long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing twenty-three straight. The final villain showdown, which erases Link's health as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is still only a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily clone items during the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software forces the player to use the legendary weapon as the last strike, so technically, it's not fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned over a thousand people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.