Twitch Star Dedicates 37 Straight Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, while numerous gamers have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a one stick—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he played the game using only bombs or the effort where he tried to beat the story with zero energy. A one-branch run, though, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the weakest weapon in the entire world. Yet if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The complete answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator does a “preparation” save where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him completing the prologue and first starting area, and this character gains maximum endurance and hearts. From here, he triggers a cinematic and halts partway through to instruct the game to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and creates a third save file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That causes new problems, however. The merged file has a Link that did not obtain the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses easily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy build of the game that fails to load some locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then updates the software midway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is coded so that he cannot break any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the durability problem, as the character he pulls between universes is the version from the start of the game. It's a smart technique, but not one that eradicates all possible friction. The stick is still a ineffective item that renders encounters tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of items to boost his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a glitch that enables him to clip through the environment. A few would consider these methods reason to question the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further implements a penalty of sorts stating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll remove one viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to defeat many of the game's main enemies, but the fights appear painful. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the audience endure the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them last multiple hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which erases the hero's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is still only a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone objects midway the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software forces the user to use the Master Sword as the last strike, so technically, it's not fully a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed more than a thousand people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.