Streaming Star Dedicates 37 Hours Attempting to Beat <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 arrived, fans would have exhausted creative challenge runs that impose unique rules on a playthrough. However, while numerous gamers have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the player who endeavored to beat the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the instance he played the title solely with explosives or the attempt where he tried to beat the game with no stamina. A single stick run, though, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is particularly important when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the whole world. But if the branch shatters, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple answer is exploits. The full 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 impact one another. So the creator does a “setup” save where he progresses normally, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this Link gains full endurance and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses midway through to tell the software to load an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a third game file that merges the states of the original two.

That creates fresh problems, though. The fused file has a protagonist that did not obtain the ability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch addresses easily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy version of the game that fails to open some locations. Like everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of the hero is coded so that he is unable to break any tools he uses, presumably to avoid a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eradicates all potential friction. The branch is still a ineffective weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful number of items to boost his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also employs a bug that enables him to clip through the world. A few would find these means grounds to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He further uses a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll ban a viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

PointCrow manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube version of his journey spares the viewer sit through the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them last several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an incredible 23 hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible branch is still just a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily duplicate objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so technically, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed more than a thousand people in his Twitch chat. RIP.