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

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. Yet, while numerous gamers have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom with just a stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the player who endeavored to beat the game with a one stick—specifically, the exact same stick throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he played the title solely with explosives or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with zero stamina. A one-branch run, however, seems impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the whole world. But if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he advances normally, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him completing the prologue and first starting area, and this Link gains maximum endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a third save file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That creates fresh problems, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that never acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy build of the game that fails to open certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts the game on its early version 1.0, and then updates the game partway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he cannot damage any weapons he uses, presumably to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the durability issue, as the character he pulls across universes is the one from the start of the story. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eliminates all possible difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a ineffective item that renders battles onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of determination and perseverance. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful number of consumables to improve his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally employs a glitch that allows Link to phase through the world. Some would find these methods reason to discredit the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban one fan from his live stream, establishing an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The video edit of his quest spares the viewer endure the entire fights, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all only a stick. He is unable to always clone items midway the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, he does overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software forces the user to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer banned over a thousand people in his live stream. RIP.