Twitch Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, while numerous gamers have attempted to finish the game using just a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the player who endeavored to clear the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the exact same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for such challenge runs, such as the time he played the game solely with explosives or the effort where he aimed to beat the game with no stamina. A single stick run, however, sounds impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is especially relevant when working with the most fragile tool in the entire world. But if the stick shatters, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The full story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” file where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this character acquires full endurance and health. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a new game file that combines the states of the first two files.

That causes new issues, though. The merged file has a protagonist that never obtain the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy build of the title that refuses to open some areas. Like everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any tools he wields, presumably to avoid a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the durability issue, as the character he pulls between universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever technique, but not one that eradicates all potential friction. The stick is still a weak item that makes encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of determination and perseverance. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful supply of items to improve his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a bug that enables Link to clip through the world. Some would consider these methods grounds to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll remove a viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat several of the game's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The video version of his journey spares the viewer sit through the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them take multiple hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 hours. The final villain battle, which erases Link's hearts as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all just a piece of wood. He can't always clone objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over 1,000 people in his live stream. Rest in peace.