Streaming Star Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous players have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom using just a stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the individual who aimed to clear the adventure with a single branch—specifically, the exact same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for such challenge runs, like the time he went through the game using only bombs or the effort where he tried to beat the story with no energy. A single stick playthrough, however, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole durability system, which is especially important when dealing with the weakest weapon in the entire game. Yet if the stick shatters, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple explanation is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that affect one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the actual save, where he's limited. The preparatory save has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this Link acquires maximum endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cinematic and halts midway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and creates a third save file that combines the states of the original two.

That creates new problems, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that never obtain the ability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch fixes readily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable version of the title that fails to open certain areas. Like everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the game partway through to ensure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is programmed so that he is unable to break any tools he wields, presumably to prevent a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the durability issue, as the character he pulls between universes is the version from the start of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eradicates all possible friction. The stick is nonetheless a weak item that makes encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a matter of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful supply of items to improve his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. Some would find these means reason to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He also uses a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll ban one viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

The streamer succeeds to get through several of the game's bosses, but the fights appear painful. The video version of his quest doesn't make the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them take several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an incredible 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all only a stick. He can't necessarily duplicate objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow banned over a thousand people in his live stream. RIP.