Streaming Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

You might assume that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, while numerous gamers have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the player who endeavored to beat the game with a single branch—meaning, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he went through the title solely with explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch playthrough, however, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire world. But if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The full answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So the creator creates a “setup” save where he progresses normally, and the real save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and first tutorial island, and this Link gains full stamina and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a third game file that combines the states of the first two files.

That creates new issues, though. The merged file has a Link that never acquired the ability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable build of the title that refuses to open some locations. As with other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the software partway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory version of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he uses, presumably to avoid a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the durability problem, as the character he pulls between dimensions is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that renders battles onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and dedication. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful supply of consumables to boost his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a bug that allows him to phase through the world. Some would consider these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He also uses a safeguard of kinds stating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll ban one viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the fights look painful. The YouTube edit of his quest spares the audience sit through the entire fights, which is a blessing when a few of them take multiple hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily clone items during the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game compels the player to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer removed more than a thousand users in his Twitch chat. RIP.