Streaming Star Spends 37 Straight Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while many players have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the player who aimed to clear the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he played the game using only explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the story with zero energy. A single stick playthrough, however, sounds impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile tool in the whole world. Yet if the stick breaks, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple answer is exploits. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he advances normally, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The setup save has him going through the intro and first tutorial island, and this character acquires full endurance and health. From here, he starts a cutscene and pauses midway through to tell the game to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets confused and creates a new save file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That creates fresh issues, though. The merged save file has a Link that never acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit addresses easily, but executing it means relying on an unstable version of the title that refuses to load some areas. As with everything else, he has a clever solution 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 begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is coded so that he is unable to break any weapons he uses, likely to prevent a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he pulls across dimensions is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all potential friction. The branch is still a ineffective weapon that renders encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's all a matter of grit and perseverance. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant supply of items to boost his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that allows Link to phase through the world. Some would consider these methods reason to discredit the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He also implements a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll ban one viewer from his live stream, creating an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

The streamer succeeds to get through many of the game's main enemies, but the fights appear painful. The YouTube edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them take several hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all only a stick. He is unable to necessarily clone objects midway the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the user to use the legendary weapon as the final attack, so technically, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

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