Twitch Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Beat <em>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 exhausted novel challenge runs that impose special restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous players have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom with just a stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the player who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single stick—meaning, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he played the title using only explosives or the attempt where he tried to beat the story with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire durability system, which is particularly important when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the whole world. But if the branch shatters, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple explanation is glitches. The complete answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The setup save has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this character acquires maximum stamina and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a third game file that combines the states of the original two.

That creates fresh problems, though. The fused save file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable build of the game that fails to load certain areas. As with everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then updates the software partway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue form of Link is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer gets around the wear issue, as the character he transfers across dimensions is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eliminates all potential friction. The branch is still a ineffective item that makes battles onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of grit and dedication. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful number of items to improve his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally employs a glitch that enables Link to phase through the world. Some would find these methods reason to discredit the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

PointCrow manages to defeat several of the game's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The YouTube edit of his quest spares the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them take several hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an incredible 23 hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all only a stick. He is unable to necessarily duplicate objects midway the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow does defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the last strike, so technically, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

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