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

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although many gamers have attempted to complete the game with just a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the player who endeavored to clear the game with a one branch—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the title solely with bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with no energy. A single stick run, though, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is especially relevant when working with the most fragile tool in the entire game. Yet if the stick breaks, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple 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” file where he progresses normally, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this Link gains maximum endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a third save file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

This creates new issues, however. The merged save file has a protagonist that did not acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit addresses easily, but executing it means relying on an unstable build of the game that refuses to open some areas. Like everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then patches the game midway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is coded so that he is unable to damage any tools he wields, presumably to prevent a situation where the user gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he transfers between universes is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a weak weapon that renders battles tedious. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and dedication. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful supply of consumables to boost his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also makes use of a glitch that enables him to phase through the world. Some would find these means reason to discredit the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He also uses a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll remove a fan from his live stream, creating an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat many of the game's bosses, but the fights appear painful. The YouTube edit of his quest spares the viewer sit through the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible 23 hours. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is after all only a piece of wood. He can't always clone items during the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the player to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so technically, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer removed over a thousand people in his Twitch chat. RIP.