Streaming Personality Dedicates 37 Hours Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply special rules on a gameplay session. However, while numerous players have attempted to complete the game using only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the player who endeavored to beat the game with a single branch—meaning, the exact same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the title using only explosives or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, seems impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is particularly important when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire world. But if the branch shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The complete story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate playthroughs that affect one another. So the creator creates a “setup” save where he progresses standardly, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The setup save has him going through the intro and initial tutorial island, and this Link gains full stamina and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to instruct the software to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and creates a third game file that merges the states of the first two files.

That causes fresh problems, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that did not obtain the ability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch fixes readily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable build of the game that refuses to load certain areas. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its early version 1.0, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any weapons he wields, presumably to avoid a situation where the user gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the Link he pulls across universes is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a smart trick, but not one that eliminates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a ineffective weapon that renders battles tedious. But at that stage, it's all a matter of determination and perseverance. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant number of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a glitch that enables Link to clip through the world. A few would find these means grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He also uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll ban a fan from his live stream, establishing an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

The streamer manages to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles appear grueling. The YouTube edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which erases Link's health as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is after all just a stick. He can't always duplicate objects during the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the software forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the final attack, so technically, it's not fully a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed over 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. RIP.