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

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that apply unique rules on a gameplay session. However, although numerous gamers have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the game with a one stick—specifically, the exact same one from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he played the game solely with explosives or the attempt where he tried to beat the story with no energy. A one-branch run, though, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the whole game. Yet if the branch shatters, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator creates a “setup” file where he advances standardly, and the real file, where he's limited. The setup file has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this character acquires full endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a third game file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That creates new issues, though. The fused file has a Link that never acquired the ability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the title that fails to open certain locations. As with everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its early version 1.0, and then updates the software partway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory version of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to damage any tools he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the Link he transfers between dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a clever technique, but not one that eliminates all possible difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a weak item that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. A few would consider these methods grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He also uses a safeguard of kinds stating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

The streamer succeeds to get through many of the game's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The video edit of his quest doesn't make the viewer endure the whole fights, which is a good thing when some of them last multiple hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases the hero's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all just a piece of wood. He can't always clone objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game compels the player to use the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, 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 a thousand users in his live stream. RIP.