Twitch Star Dedicates 37 Hours Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative challenge runs that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. However, while many gamers have tried to finish the game using just a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a one stick—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the title solely with explosives or the effort where he aimed to defeat the story with no stamina. A single stick playthrough, however, seems impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is especially relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the entire game. Yet if the branch breaks, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The full answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” save where he advances standardly, and the actual file, where he's limited. The setup file has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this character acquires full endurance and hearts. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the software to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and creates a third game file that merges the conditions of the original two.

That creates fresh problems, however. The fused save file has a protagonist that did not obtain the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit addresses easily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy version of the game that refuses to open certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he is unable to break any tools he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the durability problem, as the character he transfers between dimensions is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective item that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of consumables to boost his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that enables him to clip through the world. A few would consider these methods grounds to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll remove a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to get through several of the game's main enemies, but the battles appear painful. The video edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them take several long hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is still only a stick. He can't necessarily clone objects during the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, he manages to defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the software forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the last attack, so technically, it's not completely a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than a thousand users in his Twitch chat. RIP.