Streaming Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Branch

You might assume that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that impose special rules on a gameplay session. However, although numerous gamers have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to beat the adventure with a one stick—meaning, the exact same one throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the game using only explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the game with zero energy. A one-branch run, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the entire game. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple answer is glitches. The complete answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator does a “preparation” save where he advances normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this Link gains maximum stamina and health. From this point, he starts a cutscene and halts partway through to instruct the software to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and creates a third save file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

That causes new problems, though. The fused file has a Link that never obtain the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable version of the game that fails to open some areas. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then updates the game partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is coded so that he cannot break any weapons he uses, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability problem, as the character he transfers between universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eliminates all possible friction. The stick is still a weak item that makes battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a question of grit and dedication. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant supply of items to boost his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a bug that enables him to clip through the environment. Some would find these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He further uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll remove a fan from his live stream, creating an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights appear grueling. The YouTube edit of his journey spares the viewer sit through the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take several hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which erases Link's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is after all only a piece of wood. He is unable to always duplicate objects midway the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, he does overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game compels the player to wield the Master Sword 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, the streamer banned over a thousand users in his Twitch chat. RIP.