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

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that impose special rules on a playthrough. Yet, although many gamers have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom using just a stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a one stick—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the title using only bombs or the effort where he tried to defeat the story with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, however, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the whole world. Yet if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that affect one another. So the creator creates a “setup” save where he progresses standardly, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The setup save has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this character gains maximum endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the game to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a third save file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

That causes new issues, though. The fused file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable build of the game that refuses to load some areas. Like everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the software partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory version of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to break any tools he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, 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 potential difficulty. The branch is still a weak item that renders encounters tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful number of consumables to boost his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that enables him to clip through the world. A few would consider these methods reason to question the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He also uses a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll ban a viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

PointCrow manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles look painful. The video version of his quest doesn't make the viewer endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them last several hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which erases Link's health as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is still just a stick. He is unable to always duplicate objects midway the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow manages to overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the game compels the player to wield the legendary weapon as the last strike, so technically, it's not completely a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than a thousand users in his Twitch chat. RIP.