Twitch Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that apply special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although many gamers have attempted to finish the game using only a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the game with a one branch—meaning, the very same one throughout.

PointCrow is famous for such challenge runs, such as the instance he played the title using only explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the game with zero energy. A single stick playthrough, though, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole durability system, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire game. Yet if the stick breaks, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward answer is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” save where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him going through the intro and initial tutorial island, and this character gains full endurance and health. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and halts partway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a new save file that combines the states of the first two files.

That creates fresh issues, though. The fused file has a Link that never acquired the capability to access shrines. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy version of the title that fails to open certain locations. As with everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the game midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory form of Link is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he uses, presumably to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the wear issue, as the Link he pulls between universes is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all potential difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that makes battles onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of grit and dedication. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also employs a glitch that allows Link to phase through the environment. A few would consider these means reason to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further implements a penalty of sorts stating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll remove one viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

The streamer manages to defeat many of the game's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The YouTube version of his quest spares the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them last multiple hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing 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 stick. He can't necessarily clone objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, he does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned over 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. RIP.