Twitch Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Stick

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although many gamers have attempted to finish the game with only a wooden stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the instance he played the title solely with explosives or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with zero energy. A single stick playthrough, though, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile tool in the whole game. Yet if the branch shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple answer is glitches. The full story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So the creator does a “setup” save where he advances normally, and the actual save, where he's limited. The setup save has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this character acquires maximum endurance and health. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and pauses partway through to instruct the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and creates a third save file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

This causes new issues, however. The merged save file has a Link that never obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses easily, but executing it means depending on an buggy build of the game that refuses to open certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is coded so that he is unable to break any weapons he wields, presumably to avoid a situation where the user gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability problem, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eradicates all possible friction. The branch is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that renders battles tedious. But at that point, it's all a question of grit and dedication. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful supply of items to boost his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that allows Link to phase through the environment. Some would consider these means grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll remove a fan from his live stream, establishing an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

PointCrow manages to get through many of the game's bosses, but the fights look grueling. The video version of his journey spares the audience endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when a few of them take several long hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible 23 hours. The final villain battle, which erases the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is after all just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily duplicate objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game forces the player to wield the legendary weapon as the final strike, so technically, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow banned over 1,000 people in his live stream. Rest in peace.