Streaming Personality Dedicates 37 Straight Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, while numerous gamers have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom using just a stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the player who aimed to beat the adventure with a one branch—meaning, the exact same one from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for such challenge runs, like the instance he played the title using only bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, sounds impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest tool in the entire world. Yet if the stick breaks, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and first tutorial island, and this character acquires full endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cutscene and pauses midway through to instruct the game to load an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and creates a new save file that merges the states of the first two files.

This creates fresh issues, however. The fused save file has a Link that never acquired the capability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit fixes easily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable build of the title that refuses to open certain areas. As with everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He starts the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the game partway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory version of the hero is coded so that he is unable to break any tools he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the character he transfers across universes is the one from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a ineffective item that renders battles tedious. But at that point, it's all a matter of grit and perseverance. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his attack, 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 grounds to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He further implements a penalty of kinds stating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, creating an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights look grueling. The video edit of his quest spares the audience endure the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them take multiple hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible 23 straight. The final villain showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible branch is still only a stick. He is unable to always duplicate objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the game forces the player to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so technically, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned over 1,000 users in his live stream. RIP.