Streaming Star Dedicates 37 Straight Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Stick

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while numerous players have attempted to finish the game with just a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a single branch—specifically, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for such challenge runs, such as the time he went through the game solely with explosives or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch run, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially relevant when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the entire game. Yet if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he progresses standardly, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum endurance and health. From here, he triggers a cinematic and halts partway through to instruct the game to load an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a new game file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That causes new problems, however. The fused save file has a protagonist that never acquired the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable build of the title that fails to open certain areas. As with everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any tools he uses, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he pulls between universes is the version from the start of the story. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eliminates all potential difficulty. The stick is still a weak weapon that makes encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's all a matter of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant number of consumables to improve his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a bug that allows Link to clip through the world. Some would find these means grounds to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, creating an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

The streamer manages to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the fights look painful. The video version of his journey spares the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them take several long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible 23 straight. The final villain showdown, which depletes the hero's health as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all only a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily duplicate items midway the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, he manages to overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the user to use the legendary weapon as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed more than a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.