Streaming Star Spends 37 Straight Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose special restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous players have attempted to finish the game with just a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who aimed to clear the game with a single branch—meaning, the exact same one throughout.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the title using only bombs or the effort where he tried to defeat the game with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, however, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is particularly important when dealing with the weakest weapon in the whole game. But if the branch shatters, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward answer is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” save where he advances standardly, and the actual file, where he's limited. The setup file has him going through the prologue and first starting area, and this character gains full endurance and health. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses partway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a third game file that combines the states of the original two.

That causes fresh problems, however. The merged save file has a Link that did not acquired the capability to access shrines. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy version of the title that refuses to open certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear issue, as the Link he pulls across dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eliminates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a weak weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a matter of grit and perseverance. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that enables Link to phase through the environment. Some would find these methods reason to question the validity of the attempt, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He also uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll remove a viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

The streamer manages to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights look painful. The video edit of his quest doesn't make the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them take multiple hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which erases the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is still only a piece of wood. He can't always clone items during the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned over 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. RIP.