Streaming Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply unique rules on a playthrough. Yet, while numerous gamers have tried to complete the game with only a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who aimed to beat the game with a single stick—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for such challenge runs, such as the time he went through the title using only bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the story with no stamina. A single stick playthrough, though, sounds impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is especially relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the entire world. But if the branch breaks, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple answer is glitches. The full answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” save where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the prologue and first starting area, and this character gains full endurance and health. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the game to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a new game file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That creates new problems, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that never acquired the capability to access shrines. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch fixes easily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy build of the game that fails to open certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the game midway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory version of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, presumably to avoid a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the durability problem, as the Link he pulls across dimensions is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eradicates all possible friction. The stick is still a weak item that makes battles onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant number of consumables to boost his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a bug that allows him to clip through the environment. A few would find these methods grounds to question the validity of the attempt, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He further implements a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll remove a viewer from his live stream, creating an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

The streamer manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights appear grueling. The YouTube edit of his journey spares the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them last several hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is still just a piece of wood. He can't always duplicate items during the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the user to use the Master Sword as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than a thousand people in his Twitch chat. RIP.