Twitch Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that impose unique rules on a playthrough. However, although many players have tried to finish the game with just a stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a one stick—specifically, the exact same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for such challenge runs, such as the time he went through the title solely with explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the game with zero energy. A one-branch run, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially important when working with the weakest weapon in the entire world. Yet if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is exploits. The full story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So the creator does a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires full stamina and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and halts midway through to tell the game to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and creates a new game file that combines the states of the original two.

This causes new issues, though. The fused save file has a Link that did not obtain the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes readily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable build of the game that fails to load some areas. Like everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the game partway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he is unable to damage any weapons he wields, presumably to avoid a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he transfers across dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a clever technique, but not one that eradicates all potential friction. The branch is still a ineffective weapon that renders encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of items to improve his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a bug that enables him to phase through the world. A few would consider these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He further uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll ban a viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to defeat several of the game's main enemies, but the fights appear painful. The YouTube edit of his journey spares the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them take several hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The final villain showdown, which erases the hero's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is still only a piece of wood. He is unable to always duplicate items during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

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