Twitch Star Spends 37 Hours Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while numerous players have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom with just a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a one stick—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

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 energy. A one-branch playthrough, though, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially important when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire world. Yet if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward answer is glitches. The full story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” save where he advances standardly, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The setup save has him going through the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum stamina and health. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the software to load an auto-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 issues, however. The fused file has a Link that never obtain the capability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the title that refuses to open certain areas. As with everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the software partway through to ensure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he uses, likely to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear issue, as the Link he transfers between dimensions is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eradicates all potential difficulty. The branch is still a ineffective item that renders encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and dedication. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of items to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He also employs a glitch that enables him to clip through the environment. Some would find these methods grounds to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further uses a safeguard of kinds stating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll ban a viewer from his live stream, creating an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

The streamer manages to get through several of the game's main enemies, but the fights look painful. The video version of his journey spares the viewer sit through the whole fights, which is a good thing when some of them last multiple long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is still just a stick. He is unable to always clone objects midway the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the player to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so technically, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than 1,000 users in his live stream. RIP.