Streaming Star Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One 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 creative challenge runs that apply special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while many gamers have tried to complete the game using only a wooden stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the player who aimed to beat the game with a one stick—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he went through the game using only explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the story with zero energy. A single stick playthrough, though, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is especially important when working with the weakest weapon in the whole game. Yet if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak the game's save file system to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator does a “setup” save where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's limited. The setup save has him completing the intro and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum stamina and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the game to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and creates a third game file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That creates fresh issues, though. The fused file has a Link that did not obtain the ability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch fixes readily, but executing it means relying on an buggy version of the title that refuses to load certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the game partway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he uses, likely to avoid a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he transfers between dimensions is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that makes battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a question of grit and perseverance. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of items to improve his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally employs a bug that enables him to phase through the world. A few would consider these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll ban a viewer from his live stream, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

The streamer manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights appear grueling. The video edit of his journey spares the audience endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them take multiple long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible 23 straight. The final villain battle, which erases Link's health as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is still just a piece of wood. He can't always duplicate objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow does defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the software compels the player to use the legendary weapon as the final strike, so technically, it's not quite fully 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.