Twitch Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting 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, fans would have exhausted novel challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, although many players have tried to complete the game using just a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who endeavored to beat the adventure with a one stick—meaning, the very same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, like the time he went through the title using only bombs or the attempt where he tried to beat the story with zero energy. A one-branch playthrough, though, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire game. But if the stick shatters, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that affect one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's limited. The setup file has him going through the intro and first tutorial island, and this Link gains full stamina and health. From here, he triggers a cutscene and halts partway through to instruct the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and creates a third save file that merges the conditions of the original two.

That causes fresh issues, however. The fused save file has a Link that never obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable build of the title that fails to open certain areas. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then updates the game partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any tools he uses, presumably to avoid a situation where the user gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he transfers across universes is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eradicates all potential difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that makes encounters tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant number of consumables to boost his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a bug that enables him to phase through the environment. Some would consider these means grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He further uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear grueling. The YouTube version of his journey spares the audience endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them last multiple hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an incredible 23 straight. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still only a stick. He can't always duplicate objects during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the software forces the player to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer removed more than 1,000 users in his live stream. Rest in peace.