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

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that impose special rules on a gameplay session. Yet, while numerous gamers have attempted to finish the game using just a stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the player who endeavored to clear the adventure with a one branch—meaning, the very same one throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the instance he played the title using only explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the story with no energy. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile tool in the entire world. But if the stick shatters, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is exploits. The full answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he advances normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the intro and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum endurance and health. From here, he triggers a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the game to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and generates a new save file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This causes new issues, however. The merged file has a protagonist that did not obtain the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses easily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy version of the title that refuses to open some areas. Like everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then patches the software midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of the hero is coded so that he is unable to damage any weapons he uses, likely to prevent a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the character he transfers across universes is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a smart trick, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The branch is nonetheless a weak weapon that makes battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of items to improve his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally employs a glitch that allows Link to clip through the world. Some would consider these means grounds to question 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 viewer. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll ban a fan from his live stream, creating an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

The streamer succeeds to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The video version of his journey doesn't make the audience endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them last several hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible 23 straight. The Ganondorf battle, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all only a stick. He is unable to necessarily duplicate objects midway the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he manages to defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the player to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer removed more than 1,000 people in his live stream. Rest in peace.