Twitch Star Spends 37 Straight Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Branch

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel challenge runs that apply special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while numerous players have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the individual who endeavored to beat the game with a one branch—meaning, the very same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he aimed to beat the story with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the most fragile tool in the entire world. But if the stick shatters, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple explanation is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom'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 real file, where he's limited. The setup save has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this Link acquires full stamina and health. From here, he triggers a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a new save file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This creates new problems, though. The fused file has a protagonist that did not acquired the capability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but executing it means relying on an buggy version of the title that refuses to open some areas. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the software partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any weapons he uses, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the wear problem, as the character he transfers across dimensions is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a clever technique, but not one that eliminates all possible difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a weak weapon that makes battles tedious. 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 consumables to boost his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally employs a bug that allows Link to clip through the world. A few would find these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He also implements a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban one fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube version of his journey doesn't make the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 hours. The final villain battle, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is still just a stick. He can't necessarily duplicate items midway the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the player to use the legendary weapon as the last attack, so technically, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

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