Twitch Star Dedicates 37 Hours Trying to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single 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 impose special rules on a gameplay session. Yet, although numerous players have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a single stick—meaning, the very same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, like the time he went through the title using only explosives or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with no energy. A single stick playthrough, though, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile tool in the entire world. But if the branch shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” file where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's restricted. The setup file has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this character gains full stamina and health. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and halts midway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and creates a third save file that combines the states of the original two.

This causes new issues, however. The fused save file has a protagonist that did not obtain the ability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses easily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy version of the game that refuses to load certain locations. Like everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the game partway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue 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 beginning of the game. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he transfers across dimensions is the one 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 weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a matter of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful supply of consumables to boost his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also makes use of a bug that enables Link to clip through the world. Some would consider these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He further implements a penalty of kinds stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll ban one viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

PointCrow manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear painful. The YouTube edit of his quest spares the viewer endure the entire fights, which is a blessing when some of them last multiple long hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which erases the hero's health as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable branch is still just a stick. He is unable to necessarily duplicate items during the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, he manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so technically, it's not quite completely a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow banned over a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.