Streaming Star Spends 37 Hours 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 debuted, fans would have exhausted novel challenge runs that apply special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while numerous gamers have tried to complete the game using just a stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to clear the adventure with a single branch—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he played the title solely with explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the game with no stamina. A one-branch run, though, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile tool in the entire world. Yet if the branch breaks, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the actual save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him completing the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this character gains maximum stamina and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and halts partway through to tell the game to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and creates a new save file that combines the states of the original two.

That creates new problems, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that did not acquired the capability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch fixes readily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable version of the title that refuses to open some areas. Like other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then updates the software midway through to ensure it starts working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of the hero is coded so that he cannot damage any weapons he uses, presumably to avoid a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the wear issue, as the character he transfers between universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eliminates all possible friction. The branch is still a weak weapon that makes battles tedious. But at that stage, it's all a question of grit and dedication. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful supply of items to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a bug that enables him to phase through the world. Some would consider these means reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll remove one viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

PointCrow manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles look painful. The video edit of his journey spares the audience sit through the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them take multiple hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all only a piece of wood. He can't necessarily duplicate items during the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software forces the player to use the Master Sword as the final attack, so technically, it's not completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer removed over 1,000 users in his live stream. RIP.