Twitch Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative challenge runs that impose special rules on a gameplay session. Yet, while numerous gamers have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom with just a stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the individual 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, such as the time he went through the game using only bombs or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the story with no energy. A single stick run, however, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is especially important when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire game. Yet if the branch shatters, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The complete answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he progresses standardly, and the real file, where he's restricted. The setup save has him going through the prologue and first tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cinematic and halts midway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and generates a third save file that combines the conditions of the original two.

This creates fresh issues, however. The merged file has a protagonist that never obtain the capability to access shrines. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch fixes easily, but executing it means relying on an buggy build of the game that fails to load certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of the hero is coded so that he is unable to damage any tools he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the user gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear issue, as the Link he transfers across dimensions is the version from the start of the story. It's a clever trick, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is still a ineffective item that renders encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of grit and dedication. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant number of items to improve his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also makes use of a bug that allows him to clip through the world. Some would find these means grounds to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He also implements a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll ban a viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights appear grueling. The video edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the entire fights, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple long hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible 23 straight. The final villain showdown, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is after all just a stick. He is unable to necessarily duplicate items midway the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow manages to defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the player to use the Master Sword as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over a thousand users in his Twitch chat. RIP.