Streaming Personality Spends 37 Straight Trying to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that impose special rules on a gameplay session. However, while many gamers have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the individual who endeavored to beat the game with a single branch—meaning, the very same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for such challenge runs, like the instance he went through the title using only explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the story with zero energy. A one-branch run, though, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is particularly important when dealing with the weakest weapon in the entire game. Yet if the stick shatters, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The full story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak 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 progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum stamina and health. From here, he triggers a cinematic and halts partway through to tell the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and generates a new save file that combines the conditions of the original two.

This causes fresh issues, though. The merged save file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch addresses easily, but executing it means depending on an unstable build of the title that fails to load certain locations. Like everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then updates the software partway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory form of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to break any weapons he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the user gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's also how the streamer gets around the wear problem, as the Link he pulls 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 makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a matter of determination and perseverance. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a glitch that allows him to phase through the world. Some would find these methods reason to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He also implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll remove one fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The YouTube version of his journey spares the audience sit through the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them take multiple hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an incredible 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's health as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily clone objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he manages to defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than 1,000 people in his live stream. Rest in peace.