Streaming Star Spends Thirty-Seven Hours 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 Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, although many players have attempted to finish the game with just a stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the individual who aimed to clear the adventure with a one branch—meaning, the very same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the title solely with explosives or the attempt where he tried to beat the story with no stamina. A single stick run, though, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is particularly important when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the whole world. Yet if the branch shatters, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The complete story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” save where he advances normally, and the real file, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this character gains full endurance and health. From here, he triggers a cinematic and halts midway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a third save file that merges the states of the original two.

This causes fresh issues, though. The fused file has a protagonist that did not obtain the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit addresses readily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable version of the game that refuses to load some locations. Like everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory version of the hero is coded so that he cannot break any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a situation where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's also how the streamer gets around the durability problem, as the character he transfers between dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eradicates all possible friction. The stick is still a ineffective weapon that renders battles tedious. But at that stage, it's all a matter of grit and dedication. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant number of consumables to improve his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also employs a bug that allows Link to phase through the world. A few would find these means reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He further uses a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll ban one viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

The streamer succeeds to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the battles appear grueling. The video edit of his journey spares the audience endure the entire fights, which is a blessing when a few of them last several hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf battle, which erases Link's health as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is still just a stick. He can't always clone items midway the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow does overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game forces the user to wield the legendary weapon as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed over a thousand people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.