Streaming Personality Spends 37 Straight Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply unique rules on a gameplay session. Yet, while many gamers have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the player who endeavored to clear the adventure with a single branch—meaning, the very same one from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, like the time he played the game using only explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the story with no energy. A one-branch run, though, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire world. But if the branch breaks, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The complete story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he advances standardly, and the real file, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this Link acquires full endurance and health. From here, he triggers a cinematic and halts midway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and generates a third game file that combines the conditions of the original two.

This creates fresh problems, however. The fused save file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable build of the title that fails to open some areas. As with everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue form of Link is programmed so that he is unable to break any weapons he uses, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear issue, as the Link he transfers across dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eliminates all possible friction. The stick is still a weak item that makes encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of grit and perseverance. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant number of consumables to boost his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a bug that allows him to phase through the environment. Some would find these means reason to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll ban a viewer from his live stream, creating an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

The streamer manages to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights appear painful. The YouTube edit of his quest spares the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a good thing when a few of them take several long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes Link's hearts as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is still only a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone items during the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the player to use the Master Sword as the last strike, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over a thousand people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.