Streaming Personality Dedicates 37 Hours Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have exhausted novel challenge runs that apply unique rules on a gameplay session. Yet, while many players have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom using just a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single branch—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the time he played the title using only bombs or the effort where he aimed to beat the game with no energy. A single stick playthrough, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole durability system, which is particularly important when dealing with the weakest weapon in the entire game. Yet if the stick shatters, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward answer is exploits. The full answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So the creator creates a “setup” file where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and first starting area, and this Link acquires maximum endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a new game file that merges the states of the first two files.

This creates new problems, however. The fused save file has a protagonist that never obtain the ability to access shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes readily, but executing it means relying on an buggy version of the game that refuses to open certain locations. Like everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is coded so that he cannot break any tools he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the user gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the durability problem, as the Link he transfers across universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eliminates all potential friction. The branch is nonetheless a weak item that makes encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's all a matter of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful supply of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a bug that allows him to clip through the environment. Some would find these means reason to discredit the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He further implements a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll remove a viewer from his live stream, creating an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through several of the game's bosses, but the battles look grueling. The YouTube version of his quest doesn't make the viewer sit through the entire fights, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes the hero's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is still just a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily duplicate items midway the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the player to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

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