Streaming Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that impose special rules on a playthrough. However, while many players have tried to finish the game with only a wooden stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the very same stick throughout.

The streamer is famous for such challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the title using only bombs or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, however, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole durability system, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile tool in the whole world. Yet if the branch shatters, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple explanation is glitches. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's limited. The preparatory save has him going through the intro and first tutorial island, and this character gains full endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a new save file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This causes new problems, however. The merged save file has a protagonist that did not obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy build of the game that refuses to open certain areas. As with everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the game partway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the prologue form of Link is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he uses, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear issue, as the character he pulls across universes is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eradicates all possible difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a weak weapon that makes battles tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of determination and dedication. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant supply of items to improve his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally employs a bug that enables him to phase through the environment. Some would consider these methods grounds to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He also uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll ban one fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

The streamer succeeds to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights appear grueling. The video version of his quest spares the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them last several hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which erases the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone items midway 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 legendary weapon as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow banned more than 1,000 people in his live stream. RIP.