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

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, while numerous gamers have attempted to complete the game with only a wooden stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the individual who endeavored to clear the adventure with a single branch—specifically, the exact same one from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the title using only explosives or the effort where he aimed to beat the story with zero energy. A single stick playthrough, however, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire durability system, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the whole world. Yet if the branch shatters, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The full story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” save where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the intro and first tutorial island, and this Link gains full endurance and health. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and pauses midway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and creates a third save file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This creates new issues, however. The fused save file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the game that fails to open certain areas. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the game midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is coded so that he is unable to break any tools he uses, presumably to prevent a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the Link he transfers across dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a smart trick, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a weak weapon that renders encounters tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It also helps 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 makes use of a glitch that allows Link to clip through the world. A few would consider these methods reason to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll remove a viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

The streamer succeeds to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles look painful. The YouTube version of his quest spares the audience endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them last several long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three hours. The final villain showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all only a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily duplicate items midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, he does overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the user to wield the Master Sword as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than 1,000 people in his live stream. RIP.