Twitch Star Spends 37 Straight Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

You might assume that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply unique rules on a playthrough. However, while many gamers have attempted to complete the game using just a stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a one branch—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the instance he went through the game using only bombs or the attempt where he aimed to beat the game with no energy. A single stick playthrough, however, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is especially important when dealing with the weakest weapon in the whole game. But if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So the creator does a “setup” save where he advances normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him completing the intro and first starting area, and this Link gains full endurance and health. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the game to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a third game file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

This creates fresh issues, though. The merged file has a Link that never obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch fixes easily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable version of the game that refuses to open some areas. As with everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the game partway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to break any weapons he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he transfers between dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all possible friction. The stick is nonetheless a weak item that makes battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a bug that enables Link to clip through the environment. A few would find these means grounds to question the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He further uses a safeguard of kinds stating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, creating an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

The streamer succeeds to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear painful. The video version of his journey spares the viewer endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing 23 hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is after all only a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily clone objects midway the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the user to use the legendary weapon as the last strike, so technically, it's not fully a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed over 1,000 people in his live stream. RIP.