Twitch Star Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

One could think that after two years 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 gameplay session. However, although numerous gamers have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a single stick—meaning, the very same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the game using only explosives or the attempt where he aimed to beat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, seems impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest tool in the entire world. Yet if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple explanation is exploits. The full answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's limited. The setup save has him going through the intro and initial tutorial island, and this Link gains full stamina and health. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and halts partway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a third save file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

That creates fresh issues, though. The merged save file has a protagonist that never acquired the capability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the title that fails to load certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the game partway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory version of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any weapons he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he transfers across universes is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eradicates all possible friction. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that renders encounters tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful number of items to boost his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also makes use of a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. A few would find these methods reason to discredit the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He further implements a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll remove a viewer from his live stream, creating an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights look painful. The video version of his journey spares the viewer endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them last multiple long hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible 23 hours. The final villain battle, which depletes the hero's health as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to always duplicate items midway the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

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