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

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply unique rules on a gameplay session. Yet, while numerous players have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single branch—meaning, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he played the title solely with bombs or the effort where he tried to beat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch run, however, seems impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole durability system, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the entire game. But if the stick shatters, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple explanation is glitches. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” save where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's limited. The setup file has him going through the intro and initial tutorial island, and this Link acquires full endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and creates a third save file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This creates fresh issues, however. The fused file has a protagonist that never obtain the capability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable build of the game that fails to open some locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory form of the hero is coded so that he cannot break any tools he wields, likely to avoid a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he pulls between universes is the version from the start of the game. It's a smart trick, but not one that eliminates all possible friction. The branch is nonetheless a weak item that makes battles tedious. But at that stage, it's all a matter of determination and dedication. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful supply of items to improve his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also employs a glitch that allows Link to phase through the world. A few would consider these methods grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He also implements a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll remove a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles look grueling. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is after all only a stick. He is unable to necessarily duplicate objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the software compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

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