Streaming Star Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that impose special rules on a gameplay session. Yet, although many gamers have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to beat the game with a one branch—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he went through the game solely with explosives or the effort where he aimed to defeat the story with no stamina. A single stick run, however, seems impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the entire world. But if the stick breaks, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The complete story, I kid you 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 advances normally, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this Link gains full endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to tell the game to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and creates a new save file that combines the states of the original two.

That causes fresh problems, however. The merged save file has a Link that never acquired the capability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch fixes easily, but executing it means relying on an buggy build of the game that refuses to open certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue version of the hero is programmed so that he cannot damage any tools he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's also how the streamer gets around the wear problem, as the character he pulls across universes is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eliminates all possible friction. The stick is still a weak item that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a matter of determination and dedication. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He also employs a glitch that enables him to phase through the environment. A few would consider these methods 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 engage his viewer. He also implements a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll ban one fan from his live stream, creating an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

PointCrow manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights look grueling. The video version of his journey doesn't make the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a good thing when a few of them last multiple long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all only a stick. He can't necessarily duplicate objects midway the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow does defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the player to wield the Master Sword as the last strike, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed over 1,000 people in his live stream. RIP.