Twitch Star Dedicates 37 Straight Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that apply special rules on a gameplay session. Yet, while numerous gamers have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a one branch—meaning, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he played the title using only explosives or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero 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 whole game. But if the branch shatters, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he progresses standardly, and the real save, where he's restricted. The setup save has him completing the prologue and first starting area, and this character acquires full stamina and health. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the game to load an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets confused and generates a third game file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

That causes fresh problems, however. The fused file has a Link that never obtain the ability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable build of the game that refuses to load certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He starts the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the software midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is coded so that he cannot break any tools he uses, likely to prevent a situation where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the durability problem, as the character he transfers between dimensions is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a clever technique, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective item that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful number of items to boost his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also employs a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. A few would consider these means grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He further uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll ban a viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

The streamer manages to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights look painful. The video edit of his quest spares the audience endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them take multiple hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases Link's hearts as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all just a stick. He can't always duplicate objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the software forces the user to use the Master Sword as the final strike, so technically, it's not completely a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.