Twitch Star Spends 37 Hours Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Branch

You might assume that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, although numerous gamers have attempted to complete the game using only a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who endeavored to beat the game with a single stick—meaning, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for such difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the game using only explosives or the attempt where he tried to defeat the story with zero energy. A single stick playthrough, though, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the weakest weapon in the whole game. Yet if the stick shatters, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” save where he progresses standardly, and the real save, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the intro and initial starting area, and this Link gains full stamina and health. From this point, he starts a cutscene and pauses midway through to instruct the game to load an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and creates a third save file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

That causes new problems, however. The merged save file has a Link that never obtain the capability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable build of the title that fails to load certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then updates the game partway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of the hero is coded so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he transfers between universes is the version from the start of the story. It's a clever trick, but not one that eliminates all possible friction. The branch is nonetheless a ineffective item that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a question of grit and dedication. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful number of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He also makes use of a bug that enables Link to clip through the world. Some would find these means reason to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He also uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll ban one viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear painful. The YouTube version of his quest spares the viewer sit through the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them last multiple long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes the hero's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still just a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone objects during the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow does defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the software compels the player to wield the Master Sword as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer banned over a thousand people in his Twitch chat. RIP.