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

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply special rules on a playthrough. However, although many players have tried to complete the game with just a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the player who aimed to beat the adventure with a single branch—meaning, the very same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he played the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he aimed to beat the story with zero energy. A one-branch run, though, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole game. Yet if the branch breaks, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The complete story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So the creator does a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's restricted. The setup file has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this Link acquires full stamina and hearts. From here, he triggers a cinematic and halts midway through to instruct the game to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a new game file that combines the states of the first two files.

This causes fresh issues, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that did not obtain the capability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable version of the title that refuses to open some areas. Like everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the game partway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue form of the hero is coded so that he cannot damage any tools he wields, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the durability issue, as the Link he transfers across universes is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a smart trick, but not one that eliminates all possible friction. The stick is nonetheless a weak weapon that makes battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful supply of items to boost his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He also makes use of a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. Some would find these means grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He further uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll remove one viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights look painful. The video version of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them take multiple hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an incredible twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable branch is after all just a stick. He can't necessarily duplicate objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the software forces the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned over 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. RIP.