Streaming Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative challenge runs that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. Yet, while many players have tried to finish the game with just a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to clear the adventure with a single stick—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, seems impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the weakest tool in the whole game. Yet if the stick shatters, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple explanation is glitches. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” save where he advances normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the intro and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires full endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cutscene and pauses midway through to tell the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and creates a new save file that merges the states of the original two.

This causes new problems, though. The merged save file has a Link that never acquired the capability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable build of the game that refuses to open some locations. Like other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the game partway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the prologue form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot damage any tools he wields, likely to avoid a scenario where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear issue, as the character he pulls across universes is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eliminates all possible friction. The stick is still a weak item that makes encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of items to improve his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a bug that enables him to phase through the world. Some would consider these means reason to discredit the validity of the attempt, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He further implements a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove a fan from his live stream, creating an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

The streamer succeeds to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear grueling. The YouTube edit of his quest spares the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them last several hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible 23 hours. The Ganondorf battle, which erases the hero's health as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is after all just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone items midway the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow banned more than a thousand people in his live stream. RIP.