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

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply special rules on a playthrough. Yet, while numerous gamers have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the player who endeavored to clear the adventure with a single stick—specifically, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the time he went through the title using only explosives or the attempt where he tried to defeat the story with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire durability system, which is especially important when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the whole game. But if the branch shatters, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward answer is exploits. The complete answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this character acquires full stamina and hearts. From here, he starts a cinematic and halts partway through to tell the game to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a third save file that merges the states of the original two.

That creates fresh problems, though. The merged file has a Link that never acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable version of the title that fails to open certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He starts the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the software partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory version of Link is coded so that he is unable to damage any tools he uses, likely to prevent a scenario where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the character he transfers across universes is the version from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The branch is still a ineffective item that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of consumables to boost his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that enables Link to phase through the world. Some would find these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He also uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll ban one viewer from his live stream, establishing an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles look painful. The YouTube edit of his quest spares the viewer sit through the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes the hero's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is after all just a stick. He is unable to necessarily clone items midway the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software forces the player to use the legendary weapon as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

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