Streaming Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative challenge runs that impose special restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous players have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the individual who aimed to clear the adventure with a single branch—meaning, the exact same one throughout.

The streamer is famous for such challenge runs, like the instance he went through the title using only explosives or the attempt where he tried to defeat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch run, though, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire world. But if the branch breaks, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” save where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's limited. The setup save has him going through the prologue and first tutorial island, and this Link gains maximum stamina and health. From here, he triggers a cinematic and halts partway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a third game file that merges the states of the first two files.

This creates fresh problems, though. The merged file has a protagonist that did not acquired the capability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the title that refuses to open certain areas. Like other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the game midway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is coded so that he is unable to damage any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's also how the streamer gets around the wear problem, as the Link he transfers across dimensions is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eradicates all possible friction. The branch is nonetheless a weak weapon that renders battles tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of grit and dedication. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful number of items to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. A few would consider these methods grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He further uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, creating an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

The streamer succeeds to defeat many of the game's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The video edit of his journey doesn't make the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them last multiple long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible 23 straight. The final villain showdown, which erases the hero's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone objects during the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the user to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so technically, it's not completely a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer removed more than 1,000 people in his live stream. RIP.