Twitch Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while many gamers have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom using just a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a single stick—specifically, the exact same one throughout.

The streamer is famous for such challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the title solely with explosives or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, though, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the entire game. But if the stick breaks, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” save where he advances normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him completing the intro and initial starting area, and this Link acquires maximum stamina and health. From here, he triggers a cinematic and halts midway through to instruct the game to load an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a third game file that merges the states of the first two files.

This creates new issues, though. The merged file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy build of the title that refuses to open some locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the game partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any tools he uses, likely to avoid a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he transfers between universes is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eradicates all potential difficulty. The branch is still a ineffective item that makes battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a question of grit and perseverance. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant number of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also employs a bug that enables him to clip through the environment. A few would consider these methods grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He also implements a penalty of kinds stating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll remove one fan from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights look grueling. The video version of his journey spares the audience sit through the entire fights, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an incredible twenty-three hours. The final villain showdown, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is after all only a stick. He can't always clone objects during the battle.

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

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned over 1,000 users in his live stream. RIP.