Streaming Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel challenge runs that apply unique rules on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous gamers have tried to finish the game with just a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who endeavored to clear the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the exact same one throughout.

The streamer is famous for such challenge runs, like the instance he went through the game using only explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the story with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, however, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole durability system, which is especially important when working with the weakest tool in the entire world. Yet if the branch shatters, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple answer is exploits. The complete answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So the creator does a “preparation” file where he advances normally, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this Link acquires full endurance and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the game to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a third save file that combines the states of the first two files.

This creates fresh issues, however. The merged file has a Link that did not acquired the capability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes readily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable build of the game that refuses to open certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the software partway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory form of Link is coded so that he cannot break any tools he wields, presumably to avoid a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's also how the streamer gets around the wear problem, as the Link he pulls across dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a clever technique, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a ineffective item that makes encounters tedious. But at that point, it's all a matter of determination and dedication. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant supply of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that allows him to phase through the environment. A few would find these methods reason to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He further uses a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll ban one fan from his live stream, creating an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

The streamer manages to get through many of the game's bosses, but the battles look painful. The YouTube edit of his journey spares the audience endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them last multiple long hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which erases the hero's health as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable branch is after all only a piece of wood. He can't always duplicate items during the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, he does overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game compels the player to use the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned over a thousand users in his live stream. RIP.