Streaming Star Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply special rules on a playthrough. Yet, while many gamers have attempted to complete the game with just a wooden stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who endeavored to clear the adventure with a single stick—meaning, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he played the game solely with explosives or the attempt where he tried to beat the game with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is especially important when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire world. Yet if the branch breaks, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward answer is exploits. The complete answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” save where he advances normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The setup save has him going through the prologue and initial starting area, and this Link gains maximum endurance and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses midway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets confused and creates a third save file that merges the states of the original two.

This creates fresh problems, though. The fused file has a Link that never obtain the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes easily, but executing it means relying on an buggy version of the game that fails to open certain locations. As with everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its early version 1.0, and then patches the software partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Curiously, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a scenario where the player gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability problem, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is nonetheless a weak item that renders encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful number of consumables to boost his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also employs a bug that allows Link to clip through the environment. Some would consider these means grounds to question the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He further uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights look painful. The video edit of his quest spares the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing twenty-three hours. The final villain showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is after all only a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

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