Streaming Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply special restrictions on a playthrough. However, while many players have attempted to complete the game with just a stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the player who endeavored to clear the game with a one branch—specifically, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the game solely with explosives or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with zero stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is especially important when dealing with the weakest weapon in the whole world. Yet if the branch breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The complete answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So the creator does a “preparation” save where he advances standardly, and the real file, where he's limited. The setup file has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this Link gains full stamina and health. From here, he triggers a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a new save file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

That creates fresh issues, though. The merged save file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses easily, but executing it means relying on an buggy build of the title that refuses to load 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 game partway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a situation where the user gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the durability issue, as the Link he pulls across universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eradicates all potential difficulty. The branch is still a ineffective weapon that makes encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful number of consumables to improve his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He also makes use of a bug that allows Link to clip through the world. Some would consider these means grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He also implements a penalty of sorts stating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll ban a viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat several of the game's main enemies, but the fights look painful. The video edit of his quest spares the audience endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple long hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is still only a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone objects during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the player to wield the legendary weapon as the last strike, so technically, it's not fully a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed more than 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.