Twitch Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous players have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom using only a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who aimed to clear the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the exact same one from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the game using only bombs or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch run, though, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially important when working with the most fragile tool in the whole world. But if the branch shatters, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple answer is exploits. The full story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's restricted. The setup save has him going through the prologue and initial starting area, and this Link acquires maximum endurance and hearts. From here, he starts 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 game file that combines the states of the original two.

That causes fresh problems, however. The fused file has a Link that did not obtain the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch fixes easily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy build of the game that refuses to open certain areas. Like everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then patches the software partway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to break any tools he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the wear problem, as the Link he pulls across dimensions is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The branch is still a ineffective item that makes battles onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of items to improve his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He also makes use of a bug that enables him to phase through the world. Some would find these methods reason to discredit the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He also implements a penalty of kinds stating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

The streamer manages to defeat many of the game's main enemies, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube version of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them take several hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes Link's hearts as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still just a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily duplicate objects midway the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game forces the player to use the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than a thousand people in his Twitch chat. RIP.