Twitch Personality Spends 37 Straight Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply unique rules on a playthrough. Yet, although many players have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom using only a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who endeavored to clear the game with a single stick—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for such challenge runs, like the time he went through the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch run, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest tool in the whole world. Yet if the branch shatters, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward answer is exploits. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the actual save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him completing the prologue and first starting area, and this character acquires full stamina and health. From this point, he starts a cinematic and halts midway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a third save file that merges the conditions of the original two.

That creates fresh problems, though. The fused file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to access sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses easily, but executing it means relying on an unstable build of the title that fails to load certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its early version 1.0, and then updates the software midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory version of Link is programmed so that he is unable to break any tools he uses, likely to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer gets around the durability problem, as the character he pulls between dimensions is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eradicates all potential difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that makes battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a question of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful number of consumables to improve his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that enables him to clip through the environment. Some would consider these methods grounds to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He also uses a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll remove one viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

The streamer succeeds to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear grueling. The video version of his journey spares the viewer sit through the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them last several hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an incredible twenty-three straight. The final villain showdown, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all only a stick. He can't necessarily duplicate objects during the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, he manages to defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the player to use the Master Sword as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer banned more than a thousand people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.