Twitch Personality Dedicates 37 Hours Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, while numerous gamers have attempted to complete the game using just a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who endeavored to clear the game with a single stick—meaning, the very same one throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the time he went through the title solely with explosives or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with zero energy. A one-branch run, however, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is especially relevant when dealing with the most fragile tool in the entire world. But if the branch shatters, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So the creator creates a “setup” save where he progresses standardly, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and initial starting area, and this character acquires full endurance and health. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and creates a new game file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This creates fresh issues, though. The merged save file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable version of the title that fails to load certain locations. As with everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the game partway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the prologue form of the hero is coded so that he is unable to break any weapons he uses, likely to avoid a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the durability problem, as the character he transfers between universes is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a clever technique, but not one that eradicates all possible friction. The branch is nonetheless a weak item that makes 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 number of consumables to improve his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. A few would consider these means reason to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He further implements a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll remove a fan from his live stream, creating an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

The streamer manages to get through several of the game's main enemies, but the battles appear grueling. 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 hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible 23 straight. The final villain battle, which erases the hero's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, he does defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the software forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so technically, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned more than a thousand users in his live stream. RIP.