Streaming Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that apply unique rules on a playthrough. However, although numerous players have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the individual who endeavored to clear the game with a single branch—specifically, the very same stick throughout.

The streamer is famous for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the title using only bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the story with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, though, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is especially important when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire world. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple explanation is glitches. The full 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 creates a “preparation” save where he progresses standardly, and the real file, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him going through the prologue and initial starting area, and this character acquires full stamina and health. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and halts midway through to tell the software to load an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a new game file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

This causes new issues, however. The merged file has a protagonist that never obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses easily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the title that refuses to load some areas. Like everything else, he has a technical workaround 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 Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he is unable to break any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a scenario where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability problem, as the character he transfers across dimensions is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is still a weak weapon that makes encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a matter of determination and perseverance. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of items to boost his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also employs a bug that allows Link to phase through the world. A few would consider these means grounds to question the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He also uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll ban a viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights look painful. The video edit of his journey spares the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them last multiple hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases the hero's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone items midway the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he manages to overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the software forces the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed over 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.