Streaming Star Dedicates 37 Straight Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that apply special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while numerous players have tried to finish the game with only a stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the player who aimed to beat the game with a one branch—specifically, the very same one from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the time he went through the game solely with explosives or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with zero energy. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire game. Yet if the stick shatters, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple explanation is exploits. The full story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” save where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's restricted. The setup save has him going through the prologue and initial starting area, and this character acquires full stamina and health. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and halts midway through to tell the game to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a third game file that merges the states of the original two.

That creates fresh issues, however. The fused save file has a protagonist that did not obtain the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses easily, but executing it means depending on an unstable build of the game that refuses to open certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the software midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is programmed so that he is unable to damage any tools he wields, presumably to avoid a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the durability issue, as the Link he pulls across universes is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eradicates all possible friction. The stick is still a weak item that renders battles onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of items to boost his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He also makes use of a glitch that enables him to phase through the environment. A few would consider these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further implements a penalty of sorts stating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll ban one fan from his live stream, creating an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to get through several of the game's bosses, but the battles look grueling. The YouTube version of his quest doesn't make the viewer endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when some of them last several long hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible 23 hours. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable branch is still only a stick. He is unable to always clone items during the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned more than a thousand people in his live stream. RIP.