Twitch Star Dedicates 37 Straight Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that apply special rules on a playthrough. Yet, while many players have attempted to complete the game using just a wooden stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a single branch—meaning, the very same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the game using only bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the story with no energy. A single stick run, however, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole game. Yet if the stick breaks, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” save where he progresses standardly, and the real file, where he's limited. The setup save has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this Link acquires full endurance and health. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and pauses partway through to tell the software to load an auto-save from the stick file. The game gets confused and generates a new game file that merges the states of the first two files.

That causes fresh issues, however. The merged file has a Link that never acquired the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses easily, but executing it means relying on an unstable version of the game that fails to load certain areas. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory version of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any tools he uses, presumably to avoid a situation where the user gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability problem, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart trick, but not one that eliminates all potential difficulty. The branch is still a weak item that renders encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of grit and perseverance. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful supply of consumables to boost his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that allows Link to clip through the environment. Some would consider these means reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He also uses a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll ban one fan from his live stream, creating an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to get through several of the game's main enemies, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube version of his quest doesn't make the viewer sit through the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them take several long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes the hero's health as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all only a piece of wood. He can't necessarily duplicate objects midway the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he manages to overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the game compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last strike, so technically, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer removed over 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. RIP.