Streaming Star Spends 37 Hours Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that impose special restrictions on a playthrough. However, while many players have attempted to complete the game using only a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who aimed to clear the adventure with a single stick—specifically, the exact same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, like the time he played the game using only bombs or the attempt where he tried to beat the game with no stamina. A single stick playthrough, though, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire durability system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the most fragile tool in the entire world. Yet if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The full answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” save where he progresses standardly, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him completing the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires full stamina and health. From here, he triggers a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and generates a new game file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

That creates fresh problems, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that did not acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses readily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable build of the game that fails to load certain areas. As with everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then updates the game midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is coded so that he is unable to break any tools he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the character he transfers across dimensions is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a clever technique, but not one that eliminates all possible friction. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of consumables to boost his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally employs a glitch that enables Link to clip through the environment. A few would find these means reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll ban one viewer from his live stream, creating an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube version of his quest spares the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing 23 hours. The final villain showdown, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is still just a piece of wood. He can't always clone items midway the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the software forces the player to use the Master Sword as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned over a thousand people in his live stream. RIP.