Twitch Star Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, although numerous gamers have attempted to complete the game using only a stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the player who endeavored to beat the game with a one branch—meaning, the very same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for such challenge runs, like the time he played the game using only bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with no energy. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire world. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So the creator does a “setup” save where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's limited. The setup save has him going through the prologue and first tutorial island, and this character gains full stamina and health. From this point, he starts a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the game to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a third game file that merges the states of the first two files.

That causes new problems, however. The fused save file has a protagonist that did not acquired the capability to access shrines. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch addresses easily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy version of the game that refuses to open certain areas. Like other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the game midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any weapons he uses, likely to avoid a scenario where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the durability problem, as the character he pulls between universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a weak weapon that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful number of items to boost his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a bug that enables Link to phase through the environment. Some would consider these means grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He further implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll ban one fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

The streamer manages to defeat many of the game's main enemies, but the fights appear grueling. The video version of his quest spares the viewer endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible 23 straight. The final villain battle, which erases the hero's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is after all only a stick. He is unable to necessarily duplicate objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow manages to defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the game forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned over 1,000 people in his live stream. RIP.