Streaming Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Branch

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique rules on a playthrough. Yet, while numerous players have attempted to finish the game using only a wooden stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the exact same one from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he played the title solely with bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with zero energy. A one-branch run, though, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire world. Yet if the branch breaks, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The complete answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So the creator creates a “setup” save where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him completing the intro and initial starting area, and this Link acquires full stamina and health. From here, he starts a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and creates a third save file that merges the states of the original two.

This creates fresh problems, however. The merged file has a Link that never obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses readily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy version of the title that fails to open some locations. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the game partway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory version of the hero is programmed so that he cannot damage any tools he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability issue, as the character he transfers between universes is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a clever technique, but not one that eradicates all possible friction. The stick is nonetheless a weak weapon that renders battles tedious. But at that stage, it's all a question of grit and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant number of items to improve his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that allows Link to phase through the environment. Some would find these means reason to discredit the validity of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further implements a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, establishing an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

The streamer succeeds to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the battles appear grueling. The YouTube edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them take several hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable branch is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily clone objects midway the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow does overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game compels the player to use the Master Sword as the final strike, so technically, it's not completely a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow banned over 1,000 people in his live stream. Rest in peace.