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

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that impose special rules on a playthrough. However, although many gamers have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom with only a wooden stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he played the title solely with bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with no energy. A single stick run, though, sounds impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is especially relevant when working with the weakest tool in the whole game. But if the stick breaks, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is exploits. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and first starting area, and this character acquires maximum stamina and hearts. From here, he starts a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and creates a third save file that merges the states of the first two files.

That causes new issues, though. The merged file has a Link that did not acquired the capability to access shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses readily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy version of the game that refuses to open certain locations. Like everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the game partway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he cannot break any weapons he uses, likely to prevent a scenario where the user gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the Link he transfers across universes is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The branch is still a weak item that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of grit and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant number of items to boost his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a bug that enables him to clip through the environment. Some would consider these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He further implements a penalty of sorts stating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban a viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to get through many of the game's bosses, but the fights look painful. The video edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the whole fights, which is a good thing when a few of them take several hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily duplicate items during the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

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