Twitch Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although numerous gamers have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who endeavored to clear the adventure with a single stick—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he went through the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he aimed to beat the game with zero energy. A one-branch playthrough, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole world. But if the stick breaks, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The full answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” file where he advances standardly, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and first tutorial island, and this character gains maximum stamina and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and generates a third save file that merges the states of the original two.

This causes new problems, however. The merged save file has a protagonist that never acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable build of the game that fails to open certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a clever 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 begins working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a scenario where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the wear problem, as the character he transfers across universes is the version from the start of the story. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eradicates all possible friction. The stick is still a ineffective item that renders battles tedious. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful number of items to boost his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a bug that allows Link to clip through the environment. A few would find these means grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He also uses a safeguard of kinds stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll ban one fan from his live stream, creating an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

PointCrow manages to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube version of his journey spares the audience endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them last multiple hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all only a stick. He can't always clone objects midway the fight.

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

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed more than a thousand people in his live stream. RIP.