Streaming Personality Dedicates 37 Straight Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose special rules on a playthrough. However, while many gamers have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom with just a stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single stick—specifically, the very same one from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he played the title solely with bombs or the effort where he tried to defeat the story with zero stamina. A single stick run, though, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire durability system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the entire game. Yet if the branch shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The complete answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So the creator does a “preparation” save where he progresses standardly, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this Link gains maximum stamina and health. From here, he starts a cutscene and halts partway through to instruct the game to open an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets confused and generates a new game file that combines the states of the first two files.

This creates fresh issues, however. The merged save file has a Link that never acquired the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses easily, but executing it means relying on an unstable build of the game that fails to open certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He begins the game on its early version 1.0, and then patches the software midway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the Link he transfers between universes is the version from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all possible friction. The branch is still a weak item that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant supply of items to improve his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He also makes use of a bug that enables him to phase through the world. Some would consider these means reason to discredit the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He also implements a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, establishing an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to get through many of the game's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The YouTube edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them take several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible 23 hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is still only a piece of wood. He can't always clone items midway the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software forces the player to use the legendary weapon as the final attack, so technically, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.