Twitch Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that impose special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although many players have attempted to finish the game with only a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the game with a single stick—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the game solely with bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the story with no energy. A one-branch run, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest tool in the whole world. But if the branch breaks, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The full story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator does a “setup” file where he progresses standardly, and the actual save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this character gains maximum endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cinematic 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 game file that combines the conditions of the original two.

This creates fresh problems, however. The fused file has a Link that did not obtain the ability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the title that refuses to open some areas. As with everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the game midway through to ensure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is coded so that he cannot damage any tools he wields, likely to prevent a scenario where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he transfers across dimensions is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a clever trick, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that renders encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a bug that allows Link to clip through the world. A few would find these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He further implements a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

The streamer manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles look grueling. The video edit of his journey spares the viewer sit through the whole fights, which is a good thing when a few of them last several long hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which depletes the hero's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all only a stick. He can't necessarily clone objects during the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he manages to defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game forces the player to wield the legendary weapon as the final strike, so technically, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow banned more than a thousand people in his live stream. RIP.