Streaming Star Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although many players have attempted to finish the game with just a stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the player who aimed to beat the game with a single branch—meaning, the exact same stick throughout.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he went through the title using only bombs or the attempt where he tried to beat the game with zero energy. A one-branch playthrough, however, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially important when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire game. But if the stick shatters, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward answer is exploits. The full story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” save where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this Link gains full endurance and hearts. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses partway through to tell the software to open an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and generates a new save file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This creates fresh problems, though. The merged file has a protagonist that did not obtain the ability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit addresses readily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable build of the game that refuses to open some areas. As with other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the software midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Challenges

Curiously, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he is unable to break any tools he wields, presumably to avoid a scenario where the user gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer gets around the wear issue, as the Link he pulls across universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective item that renders battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful number of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally employs a bug that allows Link to clip through the world. Some would consider these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He further implements a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll remove one viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles look painful. The YouTube edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the whole fights, which is a blessing when a few of them take multiple hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's health as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is after all just a stick. He can't necessarily duplicate objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game compels the player to wield the Master Sword as the last strike, so technically, it's not fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed more than a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.