Streaming Star Spends 37 Hours Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although numerous gamers have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom with just a stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the player who aimed to clear the adventure with a one stick—meaning, the exact same one throughout.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he played the game solely with explosives or the effort where he aimed to defeat the story with zero energy. A single stick run, however, sounds impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is especially important when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire world. Yet if the stick shatters, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple answer is exploits. The complete answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak the game's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” file where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this character gains full endurance and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and halts partway through to tell the game to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a third game file that combines the states of the original two.

That creates fresh issues, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that never obtain the ability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the title that fails to load some locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is coded so that he cannot break any tools he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the user gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the durability problem, as the character he pulls across dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eradicates all potential friction. The stick is nonetheless a weak item that makes encounters tedious. But at that point, it's all a matter of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful number of consumables to boost his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also makes use of a glitch that allows him to phase through the environment. Some would consider these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further implements a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll ban one fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to get through many of the game's bosses, but the fights look grueling. The video version of his quest spares the viewer sit through the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them last several long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which erases the hero's health as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible stick is still just a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily clone objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the player to wield the legendary weapon as the final strike, so technically, it's not quite completely a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.