Streaming Personality Dedicates 37 Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

You might assume 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 impose unique rules on a playthrough. However, although many players have attempted to finish the game using just a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who endeavored to clear the game with a one stick—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he went through the game solely with bombs or the effort where he tried to beat the story with no energy. A one-branch run, though, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire durability system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the most fragile tool in the entire world. But if the branch shatters, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple answer is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So the creator creates a “setup” save where he advances standardly, and the real file, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this character acquires full endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cutscene and pauses midway through to tell the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and creates a new game file that combines the states of the first two files.

This creates fresh problems, however. The merged file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy version of the title that refuses to load certain areas. As with everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the game partway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory form of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he wields, likely to prevent a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's also how the streamer gets around the wear issue, as the character he pulls between dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a smart trick, but not one that eliminates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a weak weapon that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and dedication. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful supply of items to boost his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally employs a bug that allows him to phase through the world. A few would consider these means reason to discredit the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He further implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear painful. The video version of his quest spares the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them take several long hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable branch is still only a stick. He is unable to necessarily clone objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not fully a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned over 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.