Streaming Personality Spends 37 Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have exhausted creative challenge runs that impose unique rules on a playthrough. Yet, while numerous players have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom with just a stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the individual who endeavored to clear the adventure with a single stick—specifically, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the game solely with explosives or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with zero energy. A one-branch playthrough, though, seems impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire game. Yet if the branch shatters, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The full answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” save where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The setup save has him completing the intro and initial tutorial island, and this character gains full stamina and hearts. From this point, he starts a cutscene and halts midway through to tell the game to load an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets confused and generates a new game file that combines the states of the original two.

This causes fresh problems, though. The merged save file has a Link that never acquired the capability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable build of the title that refuses to open certain locations. Like everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the software partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a scenario where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the wear problem, as the character he pulls between universes is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eradicates all potential difficulty. The branch is still a ineffective weapon that renders encounters tedious. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and dedication. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of items to boost his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally employs a bug that enables Link to phase through the environment. Some would find these methods grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further implements a penalty of kinds stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to get through several of the game's bosses, but the fights appear grueling. The video edit of his quest spares the viewer sit through the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 hours. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable branch is still just a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily clone objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, he does defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the player to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not completely a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed over 1,000 users in his live stream. RIP.