Twitch Star Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while numerous gamers have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to beat the adventure with a one stick—meaning, the exact same one throughout.

The streamer is renowned for such challenge runs, such as the time he played the game solely with explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the story with zero energy. A one-branch run, though, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole durability system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the entire world. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” save where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him going through the intro and initial tutorial island, and this Link gains maximum endurance and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets confused and generates a new save file that merges the states of the first two files.

This creates new problems, however. The fused file has a protagonist that did not acquired the capability to access sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses easily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy build of the title that fails to load some locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then patches the software midway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory version of Link is programmed so that he is unable to damage any tools he uses, presumably to prevent a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the character he transfers between universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all possible difficulty. The branch is still a ineffective item that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant supply of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a bug that enables him to clip through the world. Some would find these methods grounds to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He further uses a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll remove a viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

The streamer succeeds to get through many of the game's bosses, but the fights appear grueling. The YouTube edit of his journey spares the audience endure the entire fights, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all just a stick. He can't necessarily duplicate items during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the player to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so technically, it's not completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed over a thousand users in his live stream. Rest in peace.