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

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative challenge runs that impose special rules on a gameplay session. Yet, while many gamers have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the game with a single branch—meaning, the exact same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for such challenge runs, like the instance he went through the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch run, however, sounds impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is especially relevant when working with the weakest tool in the whole game. But if the branch breaks, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple answer is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So the creator creates a “setup” file where he progresses standardly, and the actual save, where he's limited. The setup file has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this character gains full endurance and hearts. From here, he triggers a cinematic and pauses partway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a new save file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

This causes new problems, though. The merged save file has a Link that never acquired the capability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses easily, but executing it means relying on an unstable version of the title that refuses to open some locations. As with everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software partway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is coded so that he is unable to break any weapons he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability problem, as the character he transfers across dimensions is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eradicates all potential friction. The branch is still a weak weapon that renders battles tedious. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful number of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. Some would find these methods grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He also implements a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll remove a viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

PointCrow manages to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the fights appear grueling. The video version of his journey spares the viewer endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them last multiple long hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all only a piece of wood. He can't always clone objects midway the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, he manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the software compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

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