Streaming Personality Dedicates 37 Hours Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using 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 challenge runs that apply unique rules on a playthrough. Yet, while many gamers have attempted to complete the game using only a wooden stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the player who aimed to clear the game with a one branch—specifically, the very same one throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for such challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the game using only bombs or the attempt where he aimed to beat the story with no stamina. A single stick playthrough, though, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile tool in the whole game. Yet if the stick shatters, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple explanation is glitches. The full answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So the creator creates a “setup” save where he progresses standardly, and the actual file, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this Link gains maximum endurance and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and halts partway through to instruct the game to load an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and creates a new game file that merges the states of the original two.

This creates fresh problems, however. The merged file has a Link that never acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the title that refuses to open certain areas. Like other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then updates the game midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot damage any tools he uses, presumably to avoid a situation where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the durability problem, as the Link he transfers between universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all possible friction. The stick is nonetheless a weak item that renders encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's all a matter of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant supply of items to boost his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a glitch that enables Link to clip through the environment. A few would consider these methods grounds to question the validity of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He further uses a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

The streamer manages to get through several of the game's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The YouTube version of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible 23 hours. The final villain battle, which erases the hero's health as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to always duplicate objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the software compels the player to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned over a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.