Streaming Star Spends 37 Straight Trying 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 run out of creative challenge runs that impose special restrictions on a playthrough. However, while numerous gamers have attempted to finish the game using just a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to beat the adventure with a one branch—meaning, the very same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he played the title using only bombs or the effort where he aimed to beat the game with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, though, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile tool in the whole game. But if the branch shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The complete answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” save where he progresses standardly, and the real file, where he's limited. The setup save has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the game to open an auto-save from the stick file. The game gets confused and creates a new game file that combines the states of the first two files.

This causes new problems, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that did not obtain the capability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the game that refuses to load some areas. Like everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the game partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue form of the hero is coded so that he is unable to damage any weapons he uses, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's also how the streamer gets around the durability problem, as the character he pulls across dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eradicates all possible friction. The branch is still a weak item that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant number of consumables to improve his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a bug that enables him to clip through the environment. A few would consider these means reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He also uses a safeguard of kinds stating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove one viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

The streamer succeeds to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear grueling. The YouTube version of his journey doesn't make the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing 23 hours. The final villain battle, which depletes the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible stick is still just a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone items midway the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, he does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than 1,000 people in his live stream. Rest in peace.