Streaming Star Dedicates 37 Straight Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted creative challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous gamers have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who aimed to clear the adventure with a single branch—specifically, the exact same one throughout.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, like the time he played the title solely with explosives or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with no stamina. A single stick playthrough, though, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire world. Yet if the stick shatters, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward answer is exploits. The full answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” save where he progresses standardly, and the actual save, where he's limited. The setup save has him completing the intro and initial starting area, and this character acquires full stamina and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and halts partway through to tell the software to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a third game file that combines the states of the original two.

This creates new issues, however. The fused file has a Link that never acquired the capability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy build of the game that refuses to load some areas. As with everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he cannot break any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer gets around the wear issue, as the Link he transfers between universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a clever technique, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a weak item that renders encounters tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful number of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a bug that allows Link to phase through the world. Some would find these methods reason to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He also uses a penalty of sorts stating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll ban one viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

The streamer manages to get through several of the game's bosses, but the fights appear grueling. The YouTube edit of his journey spares the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible twenty-three hours. The final villain showdown, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all only a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily clone objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over a thousand users in his live stream. Rest in peace.