Twitch Star Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, although many gamers have attempted to finish the game with just a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to clear the adventure with a single stick—specifically, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the title solely with bombs or the effort where he aimed to beat the story with zero energy. A one-branch run, though, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile tool in the whole game. Yet if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple explanation is exploits. The complete answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” save where he advances standardly, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this character gains full endurance and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to instruct the game to load an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and creates a third save file that merges the states of the first two files.

That creates fresh issues, though. The fused save file has a Link that never acquired the ability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the game that fails to load certain locations. Like everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the software partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory version of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any tools he uses, presumably to avoid a situation where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's also how the streamer gets around the wear problem, as the Link he pulls between universes is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a clever trick, but not one that eradicates all potential friction. The stick is still a weak item that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant number of items to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He also employs a bug that enables him to clip through the world. A few would find these methods grounds to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat many of the game's bosses, but the battles appear painful. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the viewer sit through the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them take several hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The final villain battle, which erases the hero's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone objects during the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the software forces the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

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