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

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply unique rules on a playthrough. However, although many gamers have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the player who endeavored to clear the adventure with a single stick—specifically, the very same stick throughout.

The streamer is renowned for such challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the title solely with bombs or the effort where he tried to beat the game with no energy. A one-branch run, however, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is especially relevant when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the entire game. But if the branch breaks, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The complete story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak the game's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The setup file has him going through the intro and initial tutorial island, and this Link acquires full stamina and hearts. From this point, he starts a cinematic and halts partway through to instruct the game to open an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and generates a new game file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

That causes fresh issues, though. The merged save file has a Link that did not obtain the ability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses readily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable version of the title that refuses to open some areas. As with everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any tools he uses, presumably to prevent a scenario where the user gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the durability issue, as the character he transfers across universes is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a smart technique, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The branch is still a ineffective item that renders battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful supply of consumables to boost his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally employs a bug that allows Link to clip through the world. A few would consider these means grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He further uses a penalty of sorts stating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll ban one fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

The streamer manages to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles look painful. The video edit of his journey spares the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which erases the hero's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all only a piece of wood. He can't always duplicate objects midway the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, he manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the player to wield the legendary weapon as the final strike, so technically, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned more than a thousand people in his Twitch chat. RIP.