Twitch Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, while numerous gamers have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the individual who endeavored to clear the adventure with a single branch—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he went through the title using only explosives or the effort where he aimed to beat the game with zero energy. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is especially important when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole world. Yet if the stick breaks, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is exploits. The full story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So the creator creates a “setup” save where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's limited. The setup file has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this Link gains full stamina and hearts. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the software to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and creates a new save file that merges the states of the original two.

This creates new issues, however. The merged file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable build of the game that refuses to open certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory form of the hero is coded so that he cannot damage any tools he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he pulls between universes is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eliminates all potential difficulty. The stick is still a weak weapon that makes encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant supply of items to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that enables him to clip through the world. Some would consider these methods reason to discredit the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He also implements a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll remove a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

The streamer succeeds to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the audience endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when some of them take several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible 23 hours. The final villain showdown, which erases the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all only a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily clone items during the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software forces the player to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned over a thousand users in his live stream. RIP.