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

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that apply unique restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, while many players have attempted to complete the game using only a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who endeavored to beat the game with a one stick—meaning, the exact same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the time he went through the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with no energy. A single stick run, however, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is especially important when dealing with the most fragile tool in the whole game. Yet if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this Link gains maximum stamina and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses midway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and generates a third save file that merges the conditions of the original two.

That creates fresh issues, however. The fused file has a protagonist that never acquired the capability to access shrines. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the game that refuses to load some areas. Like other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the game partway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory form of Link is coded so that he cannot break any tools he uses, likely to prevent a scenario where the user gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the wear issue, as the character he pulls between dimensions is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a ineffective weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He also makes use of a glitch that allows him to phase through the world. A few would consider these means grounds to discredit the validity of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He also implements a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll remove a fan from his live stream, creating an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube version of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the whole fights, which is a good thing when some of them take multiple hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an incredible 23 hours. The Ganondorf battle, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible stick is still just a stick. He is unable to always duplicate objects during the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed over a thousand users in his Twitch chat. RIP.