Streaming Star Dedicates 37 Hours Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that impose special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while numerous gamers have attempted to complete the game with only a stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the player who aimed to beat the game with a single stick—meaning, the exact same stick throughout.

The streamer is renowned for such challenge runs, like the time he went through the game using only explosives or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with no energy. A one-branch run, though, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the whole world. But if the stick shatters, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward answer is glitches. The full answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So the creator does a “preparation” save where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's limited. The setup file has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this Link gains full stamina and health. From here, he starts a cinematic and halts midway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and creates a third game file that merges the states of the first two files.

This causes fresh issues, though. The merged save file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable build of the title that fails to open some areas. As with everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He starts the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the software partway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any weapons he wields, presumably to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the durability problem, as the character he pulls across dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that renders encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant supply of items to boost his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a glitch that enables Link to clip through the environment. A few would find these means grounds to question the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He also uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll remove a viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to defeat many of the game's bosses, but the fights look painful. The YouTube edit of his journey spares the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf battle, which erases the hero's health as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all only a stick. He can't always duplicate objects midway the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the user to wield the Master Sword as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow banned more than a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.