Twitch Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although many players have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom with just a stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the game with a single branch—specifically, the exact same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for such challenge runs, like the time he played the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch run, though, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole durability system, which is particularly important when working with the weakest tool in the whole game. Yet if the stick breaks, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward answer is exploits. The full answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's restricted. The setup save has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this character gains full endurance and hearts. From here, he triggers a cinematic and pauses partway through to tell the game to open an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and generates a new save file that merges the states of the first two files.

That causes new problems, however. The merged file has a Link that never obtain the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable build of the title that refuses to load certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the game midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is coded so that he is unable to damage any weapons he wields, presumably to avoid a scenario where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he pulls between universes is the one from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all possible friction. The stick is still a weak item that renders battles onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of determination and dedication. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful supply of consumables to boost his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a bug that enables him to phase through the world. A few would find these means grounds to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He further uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll remove a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the fights appear grueling. The video edit of his quest spares the audience endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is still just a piece of wood. He can't always clone items during the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned more than a thousand people in his Twitch chat. RIP.