Twitch Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that apply unique restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, although numerous gamers have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom using just a wooden stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the player who aimed to beat the adventure with a one stick—meaning, the very same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he played the game using only explosives or the attempt where he aimed to beat the story with no energy. A one-branch run, though, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is especially important when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire game. Yet if the branch shatters, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The full story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator does a “preparation” file where he advances standardly, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and initial starting area, and this Link acquires maximum stamina and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses midway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and creates a third save file that combines the states of the original two.

That creates new issues, though. The fused file has a protagonist that did not obtain the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy build of the title that refuses to open certain locations. Like everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he is unable to break any tools he uses, likely to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the durability issue, as the character he pulls across universes is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eradicates all possible friction. The branch is still a weak item that renders battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant number of items to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He also makes use of a bug that allows him to phase through the environment. Some would find these means grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll remove a fan from his live stream, establishing an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear painful. The video version of his quest spares the audience sit through the entire fights, which is a good thing when some of them take several hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The final villain showdown, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is after all only a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily duplicate objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the game forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

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