Streaming Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of creative challenge runs that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. However, although many players have attempted to finish the game with only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the game with a single branch—meaning, the exact same one from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the instance he played the title solely with bombs or the attempt where he tried to beat the game with no energy. A one-branch playthrough, though, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest tool in the whole game. But if the stick breaks, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” save where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the intro and initial tutorial island, and this Link gains maximum stamina and health. From here, he starts a cinematic and halts midway through to instruct the game to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and generates a third game file that combines the states of the first two files.

This creates fresh issues, however. The fused file has a Link that did not obtain the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit addresses easily, but executing it means depending on an buggy build of the title that fails to load some locations. As with everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the game midway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue form of the hero is coded so that he cannot damage any tools he wields, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he transfers across dimensions is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eradicates all potential friction. The branch is still a ineffective weapon that renders battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He also employs a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. Some would consider these means reason to discredit the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He further uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, establishing an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to defeat several of the game's main enemies, but the battles look grueling. The video version of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them take multiple hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily duplicate objects midway the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game compels the user to use the legendary weapon as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer banned more than 1,000 users in his live stream. RIP.