Streaming Star Spends 37 Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted novel challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while many gamers have attempted to complete the game with only a stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a one stick—specifically, the exact same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he went through the game using only bombs or the effort where he tried to beat the story with zero energy. A one-branch run, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is especially important when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the whole game. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple explanation is glitches. The complete answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him going through the prologue and first tutorial island, and this Link gains full stamina and health. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and halts midway through to tell the game to load an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and creates a third game file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This causes new issues, though. The fused save file has a Link that never obtain the capability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch fixes easily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable build of the title that refuses to open some locations. 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 patches the game midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any tools he wields, likely to prevent a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he transfers across universes is the version from the start of the story. It's a smart trick, but not one that eradicates all potential difficulty. The stick is still a weak weapon that renders battles onerous. 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 supply of items to improve his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He also makes use of a bug that enables him to clip through the environment. A few would find these means grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He also uses a penalty of sorts stating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban one viewer from his live stream, creating an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights appear painful. The video version of his quest doesn't make the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a good thing when some of them last multiple long hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible 23 hours. The final villain showdown, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still only a piece of wood. He is unable to always duplicate items midway the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, he manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game forces the player to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so technically, it's not completely a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer banned over 1,000 users in his live stream. Rest in peace.