Streaming Star Dedicates 37 Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative challenge runs that apply unique rules on a gameplay session. However, although numerous gamers have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a single branch—specifically, the very same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the instance he played the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he tried to beat the story with zero energy. A single stick run, though, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the whole game. But if the stick shatters, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward answer is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” save where he advances normally, and the real file, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this character acquires full stamina and health. From this point, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the game to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a new game file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That creates fresh issues, however. The fused file has a Link that never obtain the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy version of the game that refuses to load certain locations. Like everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to ensure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory version of Link is programmed so that he cannot break any tools he wields, likely to avoid a scenario where the user gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the durability issue, as the character he transfers across dimensions is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eradicates all potential friction. The stick is still a weak weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a matter of determination and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a glitch that enables him to clip through the world. Some would consider these methods reason to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He further uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

The streamer succeeds to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles appear grueling. The video version of his journey spares the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them last several long hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing 23 hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes Link's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is still just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone objects midway the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the software compels the user to use the Master Sword as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed over 1,000 users in his live stream. Rest in peace.