Streaming Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Beat <em>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 novel self-imposed challenges that apply unique restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, while numerous players have attempted to finish the game using only a wooden stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the player who endeavored to clear the game with a single branch—meaning, the exact same one from start to finish.

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 game with no energy. A one-branch playthrough, however, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire world. Yet if the branch breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple explanation is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he progresses standardly, and the real file, where he's limited. The preparatory save has him going through the intro and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires full stamina and hearts. From this point, he starts a cinematic and pauses partway through to instruct the software to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a third save file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That causes fresh problems, though. The merged file has a protagonist that did not acquired the ability to access shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes readily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy version of the game that fails to load certain areas. As with everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot damage any tools he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the wear issue, as the character he pulls across universes is the one from the start of the story. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eradicates all potential friction. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective item that renders battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also makes use of a bug that enables him to phase through the world. A few would consider these means reason to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He also implements a penalty of kinds stating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll remove a fan from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

The streamer succeeds to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights look painful. The YouTube version of his journey spares the viewer endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them take several long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is still just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone items midway the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, he does defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the user to wield the Master Sword as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned over 1,000 users in his live stream. RIP.