Streaming Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that impose special rules on a gameplay session. However, although numerous players have attempted to finish the game with only a wooden stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who aimed to clear the game with a one branch—specifically, the very same one throughout.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he played the title solely with bombs or the effort where he aimed to beat the story with no stamina. A single stick playthrough, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the whole game. Yet if the branch breaks, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the real save, where he's restricted. The setup save has him completing the intro and initial starting area, and this character gains maximum endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and creates a new game file that merges the states of the original two.

That creates fresh issues, however. The fused file has a Link that did not acquired the capability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes easily, but executing it means relying on an buggy version of the title that fails to load some areas. Like everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the software midway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory version of Link is programmed so that he cannot break any weapons he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the durability issue, as the Link he transfers between universes is the one from the start of the story. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eradicates all potential difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a weak weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of grit and perseverance. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant supply of consumables to boost his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a glitch that enables him to phase through the environment. Some would consider these means grounds 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 engage his viewer. He also uses a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll ban one fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

The streamer succeeds to get through several of the game's bosses, but the battles appear painful. The YouTube version of his quest spares the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them last multiple long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing twenty-three hours. The final villain showdown, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is still just a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone items midway the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the game forces the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so technically, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned over 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.