Streaming Personality Spends 37 Hours Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel challenge runs that impose special restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, while numerous gamers have tried to finish the game using only a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who endeavored to clear the game with a one branch—meaning, the exact same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the game using only explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the game with zero energy. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire durability system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the whole game. But if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple explanation is glitches. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator creates a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The setup file has him going through the prologue and first starting area, and this Link acquires maximum stamina and health. From this point, he starts a cutscene and halts midway through to tell the software to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a new save file that combines the states of the first two files.

That causes new problems, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that never acquired the ability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy build of the game that fails to open some areas. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory version of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any tools he uses, likely to avoid a scenario where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear issue, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is still a ineffective item that makes battles onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of grit and perseverance. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also employs a bug that allows him to clip through the environment. Some would consider these means grounds to question the legitimacy 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 further implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll ban one viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to get through several of the game's bosses, but the battles appear grueling. The video version of his quest spares the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a good thing when a few of them last multiple long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible 23 hours. The final villain showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is still just a stick. He can't always clone objects during the fight.

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

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned more than 1,000 people in his live stream. Rest in peace.