Twitch Star Dedicates 37 Hours Trying to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

You might assume that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, while many players have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to beat the game with a one stick—meaning, the very same one throughout.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the game solely with explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the game with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, however, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest tool in the whole game. Yet if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple answer is exploits. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So the creator does a “setup” save where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this character gains full endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cinematic and pauses partway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and creates a new save file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

This causes fresh problems, though. The fused file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses easily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable build of the title that fails to open some areas. As with everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is coded so that he cannot damage any tools he wields, likely to avoid a scenario where the player gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he transfers between dimensions is the version from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eradicates all possible difficulty. The branch is still a weak weapon that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It further 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 also employs a glitch that enables Link to phase through the environment. Some would consider these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He also implements a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll remove one viewer from his live stream, creating an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

PointCrow manages to defeat many of the game's main enemies, but the fights look painful. The YouTube version of his quest spares the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them last several long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases the hero's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is after all only a stick. He can't always clone objects during the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the player to wield the Master Sword as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over a thousand people in his live stream. RIP.