Streaming Personality Spends 37 Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although numerous players have attempted to complete the game using just a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who endeavored to clear the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he played the game solely with explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the most fragile tool in the whole world. But if the branch breaks, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The complete answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So the creator does a “preparation” save where he advances normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the prologue and first starting area, and this character acquires full stamina and hearts. From here, he starts a cinematic and halts partway through to tell the software to open an auto-save from the stick file. The game gets confused and generates a new save file that combines the states of the original two.

That causes fresh problems, however. The fused file has a Link that never obtain the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses easily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable version of the title that fails to open certain locations. As with everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any tools he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the durability issue, as the Link he pulls across dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eradicates all possible friction. The stick is still a ineffective weapon that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's all a matter of determination and dedication. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful supply of items to improve his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a bug that allows him to clip through the environment. Some would find these means grounds to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He further implements a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban one viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to get through many of the game's bosses, but the battles look grueling. The video version of his journey spares the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them last multiple long hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing twenty-three straight. The final villain showdown, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is after all just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, he does defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game compels the player to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so technically, it's not fully a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer removed more than 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.