Streaming Personality Dedicates 37 Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted novel challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, while many players have tried to complete the game with only a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who endeavored to clear the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the exact same stick throughout.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he went through the title solely with explosives or the effort where he aimed to defeat the story with no energy. A one-branch playthrough, though, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile tool in the entire game. But if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So the creator does a “setup” save where he progresses standardly, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The setup file has him going through the intro and initial tutorial island, and this Link gains maximum stamina and health. From this point, he starts a cutscene and pauses midway through to instruct the game to open an auto-save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and generates a third save file that merges the states of the first two files.

This creates fresh issues, however. The fused file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch addresses easily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the game that refuses to load certain areas. Like other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its early version 1.0, and then patches the game midway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he is unable to damage any tools he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the wear problem, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eradicates all potential friction. The stick is nonetheless a weak item that makes battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful supply of items to improve his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally employs a glitch that allows Link to phase through the world. A few would consider these means reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He also uses a safeguard of kinds stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll ban a viewer from his live stream, creating an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

PointCrow manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights look painful. The YouTube version of his quest doesn't make the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple long hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes Link's hearts as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily duplicate items midway the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the game compels the player 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?

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