Twitch Personality Spends 37 Hours Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that impose unique rules on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous gamers have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the player who endeavored to beat the game with a single stick—specifically, the very same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the title using only bombs or the effort where he tried to defeat the game with no energy. A single stick playthrough, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the entire game. But if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple answer is glitches. The full answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” save where he advances standardly, and the real file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the intro and first tutorial island, and this Link acquires full endurance and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and halts partway through to instruct the game to open an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and generates a new game file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

That creates fresh problems, however. The merged file has a protagonist that did not acquired the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the game that refuses to open some areas. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory form of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, presumably to avoid a situation where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear issue, as the character he transfers between dimensions is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is nonetheless a weak weapon that makes encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of determination and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful number of consumables to improve his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. A few would consider these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation 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 bosses, but the fights appear grueling. The video version of his quest spares the audience endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible twenty-three hours. The final villain showdown, which depletes Link's hearts as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is still only a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily clone items midway the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the final attack, so technically, it's not completely a branch-exclusive 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.