Streaming Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted novel challenge runs that apply special rules on a gameplay session. However, while numerous gamers have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to clear the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he played the title using only explosives or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with zero stamina. A single stick run, though, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest tool in the entire world. Yet if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple explanation is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he progresses standardly, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum stamina and health. From here, he triggers a cinematic and halts partway through to instruct the game to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and generates a new game file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

This creates new issues, though. The merged file has a Link that never obtain the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the title that refuses to open some locations. As with other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then patches the software partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue form of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he uses, likely to prevent a situation where the user gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he transfers across dimensions is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a smart trick, but not one that eliminates all potential difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of grit and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful number of items to improve his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He also makes use of a glitch that allows him to phase through the world. A few would find these methods reason to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He further implements a penalty of sorts stating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to get through many of the game's main enemies, but the fights look grueling. The video version of his journey spares the viewer sit through the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them last several hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible 23 straight. The final villain battle, which erases Link's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone items midway the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the game forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow banned over 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.