Twitch Personality Spends 37 Hours Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that impose special restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, while numerous players have tried to finish the game with only a stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a one stick—specifically, the exact same one throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the instance he went through the title using only explosives or the effort where he aimed to beat the game with zero energy. A one-branch playthrough, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the whole world. But if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The complete answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he advances standardly, and the actual file, where he's limited. The setup save has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this Link acquires maximum endurance and hearts. From here, he starts a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets confused and creates a new game file that merges the conditions of the original two.

That creates fresh issues, though. The merged file has a protagonist that never acquired the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the game that refuses to open certain areas. Like other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory version of Link is coded so that he cannot break any tools he uses, likely to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the wear problem, as the character he transfers across dimensions is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The branch is still a ineffective weapon that makes battles tedious. But at that point, it's all a question of grit and dedication. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful number of consumables to boost his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a glitch that enables him to phase through the world. A few would consider these means grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll remove a fan from his live stream, creating an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

The streamer succeeds to defeat many of the game's main enemies, but the fights appear grueling. The YouTube version of his quest doesn't make the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible twenty-three hours. The final villain showdown, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is after all only a stick. He can't necessarily duplicate items during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the software compels the user to wield the Master Sword as the final attack, so technically, it's not completely a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.