Twitch Star Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although numerous gamers have attempted to finish the game using only a stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the player who endeavored to beat the game with a one branch—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he played the game using only bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with no stamina. A single stick run, however, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is particularly important when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the whole game. Yet if the stick breaks, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The full story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he progresses standardly, and the real file, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this Link gains full endurance and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and creates a new save file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That creates new issues, however. The merged save file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable build of the game that refuses to load some areas. Like everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is coded so that he cannot break any weapons he uses, presumably to avoid a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the durability problem, as the Link he transfers between universes is the version from the start of the story. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is still a ineffective weapon that makes encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant supply of items to improve his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also employs a bug that enables him to clip through the environment. A few would find these means grounds to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He further uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll remove one viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The YouTube edit of his quest spares the audience sit through the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them take several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible 23 hours. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is still only a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow manages to defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the player to use the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned over a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.