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

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that impose special restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, although numerous gamers have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom using only a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who endeavored to clear the adventure with a one stick—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he played the game using only explosives or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially important when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole game. Yet if the branch breaks, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he progresses standardly, and the actual file, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and first tutorial island, and this Link acquires maximum endurance and health. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses partway through to instruct the game to load an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets confused and generates a new save file that merges the states of the original two.

That creates fresh problems, however. The fused save file has a Link that never obtain the ability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes easily, but executing it means relying on an buggy version of the game that fails to load some areas. As with everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory version of the hero is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, presumably to avoid a situation where the user gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the durability issue, as the Link he pulls across universes is the one from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eradicates all potential friction. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that makes battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of consumables to boost his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. Some would consider these methods reason to discredit the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He also uses a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

The streamer manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights appear painful. The YouTube edit of his journey spares the audience endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them last multiple hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing twenty-three straight. The final villain showdown, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is after all just a stick. He is unable to necessarily clone items during the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the user to use the Master Sword as the last strike, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over 1,000 people in his live stream. Rest in peace.