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

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while many gamers have attempted to finish the game with only a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a one stick—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he went through the game solely with explosives or the attempt where he aimed to beat the game with zero stamina. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is especially relevant when dealing with the most fragile tool in the entire game. Yet if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” save where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him going through the intro and first tutorial island, and this character acquires full stamina and hearts. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to tell the game to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a third save file that merges the states of the first two files.

That causes fresh problems, however. The merged save file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable build of the title that refuses to open certain areas. As with everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He starts the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the software partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Challenges

Curiously, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he cannot damage any tools he wields, likely to avoid a scenario where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's also how the streamer gets around the wear issue, as the character he transfers across dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is still a ineffective item that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of grit 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 makes use of a glitch that allows him to phase through the world. A few would consider these means grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll remove a viewer from his live stream, establishing an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

PointCrow manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles look painful. The video version of his journey doesn't make the audience sit through the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them take several hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases the hero's health as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is after all just a stick. He is unable to necessarily clone objects during the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game compels the player to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed more than 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. RIP.