Streaming Star Dedicates 37 Straight Trying to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, although numerous gamers have tried to finish the game with just a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who aimed to beat the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the very same one from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he went through the title using only explosives or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with no energy. A one-branch run, though, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire durability system, which is especially important when working with the most fragile tool in the whole game. But if the branch shatters, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple answer is glitches. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So the creator does a “setup” save where he advances standardly, and the actual file, where he's limited. The setup save has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this character acquires full stamina and health. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and pauses partway through to tell the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a third save file that combines the states of the original two.

This causes new issues, though. The fused file has a protagonist that did not obtain the capability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable build of the game that fails to load some locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to ensure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory version of Link is coded so that he cannot break any weapons he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The branch is still a ineffective weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful supply of items to boost his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a glitch that enables Link to clip through the world. A few would consider these methods reason to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban a viewer from his live stream, establishing an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles appear painful. The YouTube version of his quest spares the audience sit through the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The final villain showdown, which depletes the hero's health as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is after all only a stick. He can't always duplicate items during the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the player to use the Master Sword as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than a thousand users in his Twitch chat. RIP.