Streaming Star Spends 37 Straight Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that impose special rules on a gameplay session. However, although numerous players have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the very same one from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the time he went through the title using only bombs or the attempt where he aimed to beat the story with no energy. A one-branch run, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire durability system, which is especially important when dealing with the weakest tool in the whole game. But if the stick breaks, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The setup save has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this character acquires maximum endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cinematic and halts partway through to instruct the software to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and generates a third game file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

That causes new issues, however. The fused file has a protagonist that never obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means relying on an buggy build of the game that refuses to load certain locations. As with everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to break any tools he uses, presumably to prevent a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer gets around the durability issue, as the Link he transfers between universes is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a clever trick, but not one that eliminates all potential difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that renders encounters tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful number of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that allows Link to clip through the world. A few would consider these means grounds to question the validity of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He further implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll remove a viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles appear grueling. The YouTube version of his quest spares the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a good thing when some of them last multiple long hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still only a stick. He is unable to always clone objects during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the software forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed more than 1,000 people in his live stream. RIP.