Twitch Star Dedicates 37 Hours Attempting 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 debuted, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that apply unique rules on a playthrough. However, although numerous gamers have attempted to complete the game with just a wooden stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single stick—meaning, the exact same one throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the instance he played the title using only bombs or the attempt where he tried to beat the game with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire durability system, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the entire game. But if the branch shatters, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this character gains full stamina and hearts. From this point, he starts a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the software to load an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets confused and creates a new game file that merges the states of the original two.

That creates new problems, though. The merged file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable build of the title that fails to open some locations. As with everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the game midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory version of the hero is coded so that he is unable to damage any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the wear issue, as the character he pulls between universes is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a smart trick, but not one that eradicates all possible friction. The branch is nonetheless a weak weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of grit and perseverance. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant number of items to improve his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a bug that allows Link to clip through the world. Some would find these means reason to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He also implements a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll remove a fan from his live stream, creating an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

The streamer manages to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles appear grueling. The YouTube version of his quest spares the viewer sit through the entire fights, which is a good thing when some of them last several long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to always duplicate items midway the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software forces the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over 1,000 users in his live stream. Rest in peace.