Streaming Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. Yet, although numerous players have attempted to finish the game using only a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to clear the game with a one branch—specifically, the very same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for such challenge runs, like the instance he played the title using only explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the game with zero stamina. A single stick run, however, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the entire world. Yet if the stick breaks, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” save where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him going through the intro and first tutorial island, and this character gains maximum stamina and health. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the game to load an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a third game file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

This causes new issues, however. The merged save file has a protagonist that never obtain the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means relying on an buggy version of the title that refuses to load certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the game partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the prologue form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot damage any tools he wields, likely to prevent a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the character he transfers between dimensions is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a weak weapon that makes encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant supply of items to improve his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally employs a bug that allows Link to phase through the environment. A few would consider these methods reason to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He also implements a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll ban one viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear painful. The video edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the entire fights, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple long hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible 23 hours. The final villain showdown, which erases the hero's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is after all only a piece of wood. He can't always duplicate items during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he manages to defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software forces the player to use the Master Sword as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

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