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

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous gamers have attempted to finish the game using just a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who aimed to beat the game with a single branch—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for such challenge runs, like the time he played the game using only bombs or the attempt where he aimed to beat the game with no stamina. A single stick run, however, seems impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire durability system, which is especially important when working with the weakest tool in the entire game. But if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's 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. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the real save, where he's restricted. The setup file has him going through the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this character gains full stamina and health. From this point, he starts a cinematic and halts midway through to instruct the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and creates a new game file that merges the states of the original two.

This creates fresh problems, though. The fused file has a protagonist that did not acquired the ability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes readily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable version of the title that fails to load some locations. As with everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is coded so that he cannot break any tools he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability problem, as the character he transfers across universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eliminates all possible difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a ineffective item that makes encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a matter of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant number of consumables to improve his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also makes use of a glitch that enables him to phase through the environment. Some would find these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He also implements a penalty of kinds stating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, establishing an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

The streamer manages to get through many of the game's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The video version of his quest doesn't make the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible twenty-three straight. The final villain showdown, which erases the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is after all only a piece of wood. He can't necessarily duplicate items midway the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned over a thousand users in his live stream. Rest in peace.