Twitch Personality Dedicates 37 Hours Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. However, while numerous players have attempted to complete the game using only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the player who endeavored to clear the game with a single stick—meaning, the very same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he played the game solely with bombs or the effort where he tried to defeat the game with zero stamina. A single stick run, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire game. But if the stick shatters, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's limited. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and initial starting area, and this Link acquires full stamina and health. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the game to load 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.

This causes fresh issues, though. The merged save file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to access sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch fixes readily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy version of the game that fails to load some areas. Like other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the software partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Challenges

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is coded so that he is unable to damage any tools he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the character he transfers between dimensions is the version from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all possible friction. The branch is nonetheless a weak weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful supply of items to boost his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also employs a glitch that allows him to phase through the environment. Some would consider these means grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll remove a viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights appear grueling. The video edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable branch is still only a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily duplicate objects midway the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer removed over 1,000 users in his live stream. RIP.