Twitch Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

You might assume that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, while many players have attempted to complete the game using just a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single branch—meaning, the exact same one throughout.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the game using only explosives or the attempt where he aimed to beat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole durability system, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole world. But if the stick shatters, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The complete story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” save where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and first starting area, and this Link gains full endurance and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and halts midway through to tell the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and creates a third save file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That causes new problems, however. The merged file has a Link that never acquired the capability to access shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means relying on an buggy build of the title that fails to open certain areas. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its early version 1.0, and then updates the software partway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to break any weapons he wields, presumably to avoid a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the durability problem, as the Link he pulls across universes is the version from the start of the game. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is still a ineffective item that renders battles tedious. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and dedication. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant number of items to improve his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also employs a glitch that enables him to clip through the world. Some would find these means reason to discredit the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He further implements a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, establishing an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

The streamer manages to defeat several of the game's main enemies, but the battles look grueling. The video version of his quest spares the viewer endure the entire fights, which is a blessing when some of them take several hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing 23 hours. The final villain battle, 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 items midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, he does defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the software forces the player to wield the legendary weapon as the last strike, so technically, it's not completely a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow removed over a thousand users in his live stream. Rest in peace.