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

You might assume that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. However, while numerous players have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the player who endeavored to clear the adventure with a one stick—meaning, the very same one throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the instance he went through the title solely with explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the story with no energy. A single stick run, however, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is particularly important when dealing with the weakest weapon in the whole game. But if the branch breaks, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The complete story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So the creator creates a “setup” file where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this Link gains full stamina and health. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets confused and generates a third save file that combines the states of the original two.

This creates new issues, however. The merged save file has a protagonist that did not acquired the capability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable build of the game that refuses to load certain areas. Like everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He starts the game on its early version 1.0, and then updates the game partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any tools he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the wear problem, as the Link he transfers between universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all potential difficulty. The stick is still a weak item that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a matter of grit and dedication. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful number of items to improve his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally employs a bug that allows him to clip through the world. Some would find these means grounds to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He further uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll remove a viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

The streamer manages to get through several of the game's main enemies, but the fights appear grueling. The YouTube version of his journey spares the audience endure the entire fights, which is a blessing when a few of them take multiple long hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible branch is still just a stick. He can't always clone items during the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the player to wield the legendary weapon as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned more than 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.