Twitch Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous players have attempted to finish the game with only a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a one branch—meaning, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the game solely with explosives or the attempt where he tried to beat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch run, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire world. But if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The setup file has him going through the prologue and first starting area, and this character acquires maximum endurance and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the game to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a new game file that combines the conditions of the original two.

That creates new problems, though. The merged save file has a Link that never obtain the capability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses easily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable version of the game that fails to load some areas. Like everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the game partway through to ensure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory version of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to break any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a scenario where the user gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the durability problem, as the character he pulls between universes is the version from the start of the game. It's a smart technique, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a weak item that makes battles onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant number of items to improve his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a bug that allows him to clip through the world. A few would find these methods reason to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He further uses a penalty of sorts stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll ban one viewer from his live stream, creating an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

The streamer succeeds to defeat many of the game's bosses, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them take multiple long hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which erases the hero's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is after all just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone objects during the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he manages to overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the player to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned more than 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.