Streaming Star Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that impose special restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, while many gamers have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom using just a stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the individual who endeavored to beat the game with a single branch—meaning, the exact same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he went through the game using only bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with no stamina. A single stick run, though, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the most fragile tool in the entire game. But if the branch breaks, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The complete story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” save where he advances standardly, and the actual save, where he's limited. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this character gains maximum stamina and health. From here, he starts a cinematic and halts partway through to instruct the game to load an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and generates a third game file that combines the conditions of the original two.

This causes new problems, though. The merged save file has a protagonist that never acquired the capability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit addresses readily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable build of the game that refuses to open some locations. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the software partway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Challenges

Curiously, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the wear issue, as the character he transfers across universes is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a weak weapon that makes battles onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant number of items to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He also employs a bug that allows him to clip through the environment. A few would find these means reason to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll remove a viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles look grueling. The video version of his journey spares the viewer sit through the entire fights, which is a blessing when a few of them take several long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing 23 hours. The final villain battle, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is still only a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone items midway the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow banned over a thousand users in his live stream. Rest in peace.