Streaming Star Dedicates 37 Straight Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative challenge runs that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. Yet, while many gamers have attempted to finish the game with only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a single branch—specifically, the exact same one from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for such challenge runs, such as the time he went through the title solely with bombs or the attempt where he aimed to beat the story with no stamina. A single stick playthrough, though, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile tool in the entire world. Yet if the branch breaks, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The full answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” save where he advances normally, and the actual file, where he's limited. The setup file has him going through the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires full stamina and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses midway through to tell the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a third save file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

This causes new problems, however. The merged save file has a Link that never acquired the capability to access shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses readily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable version of the game that refuses to open certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the software partway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue version of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to break any weapons he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's also how the streamer gets around the durability problem, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eliminates all possible friction. The branch is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that renders encounters tedious. But at that point, it's all a matter of grit and dedication. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful supply of consumables to boost his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He also makes use of a bug that allows him to clip through the world. A few would consider these means grounds to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He further uses a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll ban a viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

The streamer manages to get through many of the game's bosses, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple long hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 hours. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes Link's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is still only a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone items during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game forces the user to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so technically, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned more than 1,000 people in his live stream. Rest in peace.