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

You might assume that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that apply unique restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, although numerous players have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single branch—meaning, the exact same stick throughout.

The streamer is renowned for such challenge runs, such as the instance he played the game solely with bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with no energy. A one-branch playthrough, however, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is especially relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the entire world. Yet if the branch shatters, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward answer is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him going through the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum stamina and health. From this point, he starts a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the game to load an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and generates a new game file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This creates new problems, though. The merged file has a Link that did not acquired the capability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy build of the title that refuses to load certain areas. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the game partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to 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 the streamer bypasses the durability problem, as the character he transfers across dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eradicates all possible friction. The branch is nonetheless a weak item that renders encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant number of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He also makes use of a glitch that allows him to clip through the world. A few would find these means grounds to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He also implements a penalty of sorts stating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll ban a fan from his live stream, creating an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to defeat many of the game's main enemies, but the battles appear grueling. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the viewer sit through the entire fights, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases Link's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is still just a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone items midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the software forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer banned over 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.