Streaming Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted novel challenge runs that impose unique rules on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous gamers have attempted to finish the game using only a wooden stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the game with a one stick—meaning, the exact same one throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the time he played the game using only explosives or the attempt where he aimed to beat the game with no stamina. A single stick run, though, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire durability system, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest tool in the whole game. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple answer is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” save where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's limited. The setup file has him going through the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this Link acquires maximum stamina and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and pauses partway through to tell the software to open an auto-save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and generates a third save file that combines the states of the original two.

That creates fresh problems, however. The merged save file has a protagonist that never obtain the ability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy version of the game that fails to load certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its early version 1.0, and then updates the game partway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he is unable to damage any tools he uses, presumably to prevent a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer gets around the wear problem, as the character he transfers across universes is the version from the start of the game. It's a smart trick, but not one that eliminates all potential difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a weak item that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's all a matter of grit and perseverance. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of items to improve his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He also employs a glitch that enables him to phase through the environment. Some would find these means grounds to discredit the validity of the attempt, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He further uses a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll remove a viewer from his live stream, creating an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

The streamer manages to get through several of the game's main enemies, but the fights appear painful. The YouTube edit of his quest spares the viewer endure the entire fights, which is a blessing when some of them last several long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing twenty-three hours. The final villain showdown, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible stick is still just a stick. He can't always clone items midway the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software forces the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than a thousand users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.