Streaming Personality Spends 37 Straight Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply special rules on a playthrough. However, while numerous gamers have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a single stick—specifically, the exact same one from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the game using only bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with zero energy. A one-branch playthrough, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is especially relevant when working with the most fragile tool in the whole world. Yet if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple answer is glitches. The full answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he advances standardly, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The setup save has him going through the intro and initial tutorial island, and this Link acquires full stamina and health. From here, he triggers a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the game to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and creates a third save file that combines the states of the first two files.

This causes fresh issues, however. The fused save file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses easily, but executing it means depending on an buggy build of the game that refuses to open some locations. As with everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear issue, as the Link he pulls across dimensions is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eliminates all possible friction. The branch is still a ineffective item that makes encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful supply of items to boost his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a glitch that enables him to clip through the world. A few would find these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He also uses a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban a fan from his live stream, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

PointCrow manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles appear painful. The video version of his journey doesn't make the audience sit through the entire fights, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple long hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing 23 hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is still only a piece of wood. He can't necessarily duplicate items during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the user to use the Master Sword as the final strike, 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, the streamer removed more than a thousand users in his live stream. RIP.