Twitch Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. However, while many players have tried to finish the game using only a wooden stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a one stick—specifically, the very same one from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he went through the game solely with explosives or the effort where he aimed to beat the story with zero energy. A one-branch playthrough, though, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the entire world. Yet if the stick breaks, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple answer is glitches. 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 the creator does 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 tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum endurance and health. From here, he triggers a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the game to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets confused and creates a third game file that merges the states of the first two files.

That creates new problems, though. The fused save file has a Link that never obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable version of the game that fails to load some locations. Like other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he is unable to break any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a scenario where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the Link he transfers across dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a smart trick, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a weak item that renders encounters tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful supply of consumables to boost his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that allows him to clip through the world. Some would find these means grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He further implements a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

The streamer succeeds to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles appear grueling. The video edit of his quest spares the viewer sit through the whole fights, which is a good thing when some of them last multiple long hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is still just a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone objects during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the player to use the Master Sword as the final strike, so technically, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned more than a thousand users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.