Twitch Personality Dedicates 37 Hours Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have exhausted creative challenge runs that impose special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although many gamers have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a one stick—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he played the game using only explosives or the attempt where he tried to beat the story with no stamina. A one-branch run, though, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially relevant when dealing with the most fragile tool in the entire game. But if the branch shatters, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple explanation is glitches. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” save where he progresses standardly, and the real file, where he's restricted. The setup file has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this Link acquires full stamina and hearts. From this point, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the software to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a new game file that merges the states of the first two files.

This creates fresh issues, however. The merged file has a Link that did not obtain the ability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch fixes readily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy build of the game that refuses to load certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then patches the game midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue version of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he wields, likely to prevent a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the durability problem, as the character he transfers between universes is the version from the start of the story. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eradicates all potential friction. The branch is nonetheless a ineffective item that makes battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant number of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that allows him to phase through the environment. A few would find these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He also uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban a viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the battles appear grueling. The YouTube version of his quest doesn't make the viewer endure the entire fights, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which erases Link's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily duplicate objects midway the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the software compels the player to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow banned more than a thousand users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.