Streaming Personality Dedicates 37 Hours 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 debuted, fans would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that apply special rules on a playthrough. However, while many players have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to clear the game with a one branch—specifically, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is famous for such difficult playthroughs, like the instance he went through the game using only explosives or the attempt where he tried to beat the story with zero stamina. A single stick run, however, sounds impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is especially important when dealing with the weakest weapon in the entire game. Yet if the stick shatters, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The full answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” save where he progresses standardly, and the actual save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him completing the prologue and first starting area, and this Link acquires maximum stamina and hearts. From this point, he starts a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the game to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a new save file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This creates new problems, however. The merged save file has a protagonist that did not acquired the capability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the game that fails to load certain areas. As with other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the software partway through to ensure it starts working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Challenges

Curiously, the introductory version of Link is coded so that he cannot damage any weapons he uses, likely to prevent a scenario where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he pulls between universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eradicates all potential friction. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful number of items to boost his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally employs a glitch that enables him to phase through the environment. Some would consider these means reason to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove one fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to get through many of the game's main enemies, but the fights look painful. The video 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. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all only a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily duplicate objects midway the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow manages to overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the software forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the last strike, so technically, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer banned more than 1,000 users in his live stream. Rest in peace.