Streaming Personality Spends 37 Straight Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although numerous gamers have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a one stick—specifically, the exact same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, like the time he played the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he aimed to beat the game with zero energy. A one-branch run, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire durability system, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest tool in the whole game. But if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator does a “preparation” file where he advances normally, and the real file, where he's limited. The preparatory save has him completing the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this Link acquires full endurance and hearts. From here, he triggers a cinematic and pauses partway through to instruct the game to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a third save file that combines the states of the first two files.

That causes new problems, though. The fused file has a protagonist that did not acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable build of the title that refuses to load certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the game partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's also how the streamer gets around the durability problem, as the character he pulls across universes is the version from the start of the story. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eradicates all possible friction. The stick is still a ineffective weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of items to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He also employs a glitch that allows Link to phase through the environment. Some would consider these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He also implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, establishing an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles look painful. The YouTube version of his journey doesn't make the audience sit through the entire fights, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible 23 hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is after all only a stick. He can't necessarily clone items midway the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the software forces the user to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer banned over 1,000 users in his live stream. Rest in peace.