You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted novel challenge runs that apply special restrictions on a playthrough. However, while numerous gamers have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom using just a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a single stick—meaning, the very same stick throughout.
The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the time he went through the game solely with explosives or the effort where he aimed to beat the game with zero energy. A one-branch run, however, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest tool in the whole game. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.
So, how? The simple answer is exploits. The full answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator does a “preparation” save where he progresses standardly, and the actual save, where he's limited. The setup file has him completing the intro and initial starting area, and this Link gains full endurance and hearts. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets confused and generates a third save file that combines the conditions of the first two files.
That creates fresh problems, however. The fused file has a Link that never acquired the capability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses readily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable build of the title that fails to load certain areas. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the game partway through to ensure it starts working properly.
Interestingly, the prologue form of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the wear issue, as the character he transfers between universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever technique, but not one that eradicates all potential friction. The branch is still a ineffective weapon that makes encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's all a matter of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant number of items to improve his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also employs a bug that allows him to phase through the world. A few would consider these methods reason to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He also implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll ban one fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to not overly rely on them.
PointCrow succeeds to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the battles appear painful. The YouTube version of his quest spares the audience endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them take multiple hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is after all just a stick. He is unable to always clone items during the fight.
Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he manages to overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the software compels the player to use the Master Sword as the final strike, so technically, it's not fully a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?
When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed more than 1,000 people in his live stream. Rest in peace.
A geospatial analyst with over a decade of experience in terrain modeling and environmental data visualization.
