Streaming Star Spends 37 Hours Attempting to Conquer <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, fans would have exhausted novel challenge runs that apply special rules on a playthrough. However, although numerous gamers have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the player who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single branch—meaning, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the title using only explosives or the attempt where he aimed to beat the story with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, though, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole durability system, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole world. Yet if the stick shatters, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The full answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's limited. The setup save has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this Link acquires full endurance and hearts. From here, he starts a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and creates a new game file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

This causes fresh issues, however. The fused save file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes easily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy build of the game that fails to open certain areas. Like other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue form of the hero is coded so that he is unable to 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 issue, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever technique, but not one that eradicates all possible friction. The branch is nonetheless a weak weapon that makes battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful supply of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He also makes use of a bug that enables Link to clip through the environment. Some would consider these means reason to question the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He also uses a penalty of sorts stating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll remove one viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles look grueling. The video version of his journey doesn't make the audience endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible 23 hours. The Ganondorf battle, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable branch is still just a stick. He is unable to always duplicate objects during the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the player to wield the legendary weapon as the last strike, so technically, it's not fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned more than 1,000 people in his live stream. Rest in peace.