Streaming Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose unique rules on a playthrough. However, while many gamers have attempted to finish the game using just a stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the individual who aimed to clear the adventure with a single stick—meaning, the exact same one from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the time he played the title using only bombs or the effort where he tried to defeat the story with no energy. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is especially important when working with the most fragile tool in the whole game. But if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple explanation is exploits. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him completing the prologue and first tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum stamina and health. From here, he triggers a cinematic and pauses partway through to instruct the game to open an auto-save from the stick file. The game gets confused and generates a third save file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

This causes fresh issues, though. The fused save file has a Link that never acquired the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit addresses easily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy version of the game that refuses to open certain areas. Like other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory version of Link is coded so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer gets around the durability problem, as the Link he pulls between universes is the version from the start of the game. It's a clever technique, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The branch is still a weak weapon that makes encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant supply of items to improve his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally employs a bug that allows him to clip through the world. A few would consider these methods grounds to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He also implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll remove a viewer from his live stream, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through several of the game's bosses, but the fights appear painful. The YouTube edit of his journey spares the audience endure the whole fights, which is a good thing when a few of them take multiple long hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is after all only a piece of wood. He can't always clone objects during the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he does defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game compels the user to use the legendary weapon as the last strike, so technically, it's not fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned more than a thousand people in his Twitch chat. RIP.