Streaming Star Spends 37 Hours Trying to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, while numerous gamers have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom with only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the player who endeavored to beat the game with a single branch—specifically, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, like the time he played the title using only explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the story with no energy. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole durability system, which is especially important when dealing with the most fragile tool in the whole game. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple answer is exploits. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The setup save has him completing the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this Link acquires full endurance and health. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses partway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and generates a third game file that combines the states of the original two.

That causes new issues, though. The merged file has a protagonist that did not acquired the capability to access sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch fixes easily, but executing it means relying on an unstable version of the title that refuses to load some locations. Like everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is coded so that he is unable to damage any weapons he uses, presumably to prevent a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the wear problem, as the character he transfers between universes is the version from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The branch is nonetheless a weak weapon that makes 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 gives him an abundant number of consumables to boost his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that allows him to clip through the world. A few would consider these means grounds to question the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll ban one viewer from his live stream, creating an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear painful. The YouTube version of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them take multiple long hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The final villain battle, which erases Link's health as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still only a piece of wood. He can't always duplicate items during the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow manages to overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game compels the player to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow banned over a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.