Twitch Personality Dedicates 37 Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply unique rules on a playthrough. However, while many players have attempted to finish the game with only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the individual who aimed to clear the adventure with a one branch—meaning, the very same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the title using only bombs or the effort where he tried to beat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire world. Yet if the branch shatters, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The full answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So the creator does a “setup” save where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's limited. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and initial starting area, and this Link gains full stamina and health. From here, he triggers a cinematic and pauses midway through to tell the software to open an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets confused and generates a third game file that combines the states of the first two files.

This causes fresh issues, though. The merged file has a protagonist that never obtain the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch fixes easily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable version of the title that refuses to load certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the game midway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory version of the hero is coded so that he cannot break any tools he uses, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability problem, as the character he pulls across dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is still a ineffective weapon that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's all a matter of grit and dedication. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful number of items to boost his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a glitch that allows him to phase through the world. Some would find these methods grounds to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He further uses a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll ban one fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights look painful. The video edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them last several long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible 23 straight. The final villain showdown, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is still just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone objects during the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the software forces the player to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

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