Streaming Personality Spends 37 Hours Attempting to Conquer <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, fans would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply special rules on a gameplay session. However, while many players have attempted to complete the game using only a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a one stick—meaning, the very same one from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the instance he played the game using only explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the story with zero energy. A single stick run, though, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially relevant when working with the weakest tool in the entire world. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward answer is glitches. The complete answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's save file system to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” save where he progresses standardly, and the real file, where he's limited. The setup file has him completing the intro and first starting area, and this character gains full stamina and hearts. From here, 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 confused and creates a third game file that combines the states of the first two files.

This causes fresh problems, however. The fused save file has a protagonist that did not acquired the capability to access shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the title that fails to open some locations. Like everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He starts the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the game midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the prologue form of Link is programmed so that he is unable to break any tools he uses, presumably to prevent a scenario where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability issue, as the character he transfers across universes is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is still a ineffective item that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of grit and perseverance. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that enables Link to clip through the environment. Some would consider these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll ban a viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

The streamer succeeds to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights look painful. The video edit of his journey spares the audience sit through the entire fights, which is a good thing when some of them last several hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible 23 hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases the hero's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is after all only a piece of wood. He can't necessarily duplicate objects midway the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow manages to defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the software compels the player to wield the Master Sword as the last strike, so technically, it's not quite completely a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer removed over 1,000 people in his live stream. Rest in peace.