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

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that apply special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while numerous gamers have tried to complete the game with just a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to beat the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the exact same stick throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the game using only bombs or the effort where he tried to defeat the story with zero energy. A single stick run, however, sounds impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the entire world. Yet if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The complete story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he advances standardly, and the real file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him completing the intro and initial starting area, and this Link gains maximum endurance and hearts. From here, he starts a cutscene and pauses midway through to tell the software to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and creates a third game file that combines the conditions of the original two.

This creates fresh issues, though. The merged file has a protagonist that never obtain the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the game that refuses to load certain locations. As with everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the game partway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory form of the hero is coded so that he cannot break any tools he wields, likely to prevent a scenario where the user gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability problem, as the character he pulls between dimensions is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eliminates all possible friction. The branch is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that makes encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He also makes use of a glitch that allows Link to phase through the environment. Some would consider these means reason to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll ban one fan from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to defeat many of the game's bosses, but the fights look painful. The video version of his journey doesn't make the audience sit through the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them take several hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible 23 straight. The final villain battle, which erases the hero's health as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the software forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so technically, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

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