Twitch Personality Spends 37 Straight Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: 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 challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, although numerous gamers have tried to complete the game using just a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a one stick—specifically, the exact same one throughout.

The streamer is famous for such challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the game using only bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch run, however, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is especially important when dealing with the weakest weapon in the whole world. Yet if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The complete answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this Link acquires full endurance and health. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses midway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and creates a third game file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That creates fresh issues, though. The merged file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch fixes easily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the title that refuses to open certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is programmed so that he cannot break any tools he wields, likely to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability problem, as the Link he pulls across dimensions is the version from the start of the story. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a ineffective weapon that renders battles tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant supply of items to improve his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. A few would consider these means reason to discredit the validity of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He further uses a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll ban one fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles look painful. The video edit of his quest spares the viewer sit through the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them take multiple long hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing 23 hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is still only a piece of wood. He can't always clone objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, he does overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the player to wield the Master Sword as the final attack, so technically, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer banned over a thousand users in his live stream. Rest in peace.