Twitch Star Dedicates 37 Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted novel challenge runs that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. However, while numerous players have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom with only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the game with a one stick—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the title using only explosives or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with no energy. A single stick run, though, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is especially relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire world. But if the stick shatters, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple explanation is glitches. The complete answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” file where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him completing the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this character gains full stamina and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and pauses midway through to tell the game to open an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and creates a new save file that merges the states of the first two files.

That causes new issues, though. The merged file has a Link that never obtain the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit fixes easily, but executing it means relying on an unstable build of the title that fails to load some areas. As with everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the game midway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory version of the hero is coded so that he is unable to damage any tools he uses, presumably to avoid a scenario where the player gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the character he transfers between universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever technique, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a weak item that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and dedication. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful supply of items to improve his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that allows him to phase through the world. Some would find these methods reason to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He also implements a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll ban one viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube version of his journey spares the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a good thing when a few of them take multiple hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all just a stick. He is unable to necessarily duplicate items midway the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the player to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over 1,000 users in his live stream. RIP.