Streaming Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative challenge runs that apply special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although numerous gamers have attempted to finish the game using only a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a single stick—meaning, the exact same one throughout.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he went through the title using only explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the story with zero energy. A one-branch run, however, sounds impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the entire game. But if the stick breaks, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple answer is exploits. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the real file, where he's limited. The setup file has him completing the intro and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum endurance and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the game to load an auto-save from the stick file. The game gets confused and generates a third game file that combines the conditions of the original two.

This causes fresh issues, though. The merged file has a Link that never obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable version of the title that fails to open certain areas. As with everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory version of the hero is coded so that he cannot damage any tools he wields, presumably to avoid a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he transfers between universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a smart trick, but not one that eliminates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a weak weapon that makes encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful number of items to improve his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that allows Link to phase through the world. Some would find these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He also implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll ban a fan from his live stream, creating an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights appear grueling. The video edit of his quest spares the audience endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them last multiple long hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing twenty-three hours. The final villain showdown, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all just a stick. He is unable to always duplicate objects midway the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game compels the player to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than a thousand people in his Twitch chat. RIP.