Twitch Star Spends 37 Hours Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply special rules on a playthrough. However, although numerous players have attempted to complete the game using just a wooden stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the player who aimed to clear the game with a single branch—specifically, the very same one throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he played the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with zero energy. A single stick run, though, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire durability system, which is especially important when working with the most fragile tool in the entire game. Yet if the stick breaks, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple answer is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So the creator does a “setup” file where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and initial starting area, and this Link gains maximum stamina and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a third save file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

This causes fresh issues, however. The fused file has a Link that never obtain the capability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the game that fails to load some locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He starts the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the game midway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is programmed so that he cannot break any tools he uses, likely to prevent a scenario where the player gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he pulls across dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a clever trick, but not one that eradicates all possible friction. The stick is still a weak item that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a question of grit and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He also employs a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. Some would consider these methods grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll remove one viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through several of the game's main enemies, but the battles look grueling. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take several hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which erases the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all only a stick. He is unable to always clone items midway the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so technically, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than a thousand people in his live stream. RIP.