Twitch Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative challenge runs that apply special rules on a gameplay session. Yet, although many players have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the player who endeavored to beat the game with a one branch—meaning, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is renowned for such challenge runs, like the time he played the title using only explosives or the attempt where he tried to defeat the story with no energy. A one-branch run, though, sounds impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole game. Yet if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The complete answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and initial starting area, and this character gains full stamina and hearts. From here, he starts a cutscene and pauses midway through to instruct the game to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and creates a new game file that merges the states of the first two files.

This causes new problems, however. The fused save file has a protagonist that did not obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the title that refuses to open certain locations. As with everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the software partway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory version of the hero is coded so that he cannot damage any weapons he uses, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the character he transfers across universes is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a smart trick, but not one that eradicates all potential friction. The stick is still a ineffective item that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant number of items to boost his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that allows him to phase through the world. A few would find these means reason to question the validity of the attempt, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He also implements a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll remove a fan from his live stream, establishing an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

The streamer succeeds to get through many of the game's bosses, but the fights appear grueling. The video version of his quest spares the viewer endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when a few of them take several hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is after all only a stick. He can't necessarily duplicate objects during the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game forces the player to use the Master Sword as the final strike, so technically, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow banned over a thousand people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.