Twitch Star Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. However, while many players have attempted to complete the game using only a wooden stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the individual who endeavored to beat the game with a single branch—meaning, the exact same one throughout.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he played the title solely with bombs or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, however, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole durability system, which is especially relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the entire world. Yet if the stick shatters, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple explanation is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” save where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and first tutorial island, and this Link gains full stamina and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and halts midway through to tell the game to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and creates a third save file that merges the states of the original two.

This creates new issues, though. The merged file has a Link that never acquired the ability to access shrines. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch fixes easily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the game that refuses to open some areas. As with other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the software partway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Curiously, the prologue version of Link is coded so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, presumably to avoid a scenario where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the character he transfers between universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a weak weapon that renders battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and dedication. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant supply of items to boost his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally employs a bug that allows him to clip through the world. A few would find these means grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He also uses a penalty of sorts stating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove a viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

The streamer succeeds to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the battles look painful. The YouTube version of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them last multiple long hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible 23 straight. The final villain battle, which erases Link's hearts as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable branch is still just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone items during the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow does defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game compels the player to wield the Master Sword as the final attack, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than a thousand people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.