The Rise of the White Wolf Enhanced Edition mod for The Witcher

CDPR has hired several notable and hard-working modders from their community, proving once again that pursuing your passions is a solid way to break into the industry. To commend the move and congratulate CDPR’s active modding community, here’s five brilliant mods for their Witcher series of games to check out!

Rise of the White Wolf

By Rustine

Whilst Witcher 2 and 3 were a big step-up in terms of both visuals and gameplay, the original entry by CDPR is unfortunately the one big outlier in both departments. This mod, however, rectifies some of this disparity with vast graphical overhauls of practically every interface in the game, a new set of custom skyboxes to make environments that much more vibrant, and new textures for many, many characters. Witcher 1’s gameplay may still be a bit clumsy, but this graphical overhaul gives you a much more immersive look into the great story that started off the trilogy.

Farewell of the White Wolf

By Rustine

Thus far, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been the last entry in the series, and the Blood and Wine expansion is its most recent in its story. Whilst both do a good job at wrapping up many of the plot threads implied throughout the trilogy, Geralt’s romance options and the ultimate fate of his love life remains up in the air. This mod goes with Geralt’s broadly canonical love interest - Yennefer - and using Witcher 3 assets, creates an epilogue within Witcher 2’s engine. With the return of many iconic characters and new combat setpieces, this mod is a great send-off to Geralt’s character.

And a Curse, and Love, and Betrayal

By The Bards

A truly huge fan-made story, this mod’s content is rich with multiple story paths, multiple endings, over a hundred interactable NPCs, new music, and more. The new environments and story content are exceptionally creative, and coming from a mod released pre-Witcher 2, the expansion-level additions are remarkable. This mod holds up really well for anyone who wants to revisit the roots of the franchise, though unlike some of the other mods on this list, it doesn’t fit in quite so well with the later developed chronology of the games.

The Witcher 3 REDUX

By 1ndig0

The Witcher 3 is a critically acclaimed game, with a deep story, fantastic visuals, and reasonably solid gameplay. That being said, the latter is the sticking point for many people, who feel its gameplay still doesn’t quite match up to the rest on offer. This mod aims to revise the gameplay loop, beginning as a small personal retooling, and expanding into a total revamp. With new inventory systems, the removal of the EXP levelling system in favour of a skill-based level schema, and even new attacks that can be unlocked through practise, the mod brings a fresh take forwards on The Witcher 3’s gameplay.

Masquerade

By eLeR

Another quest expansion for the first Witcher game, Masquerade is also the most recently updated on this list, showing the Witcher’s modding communities are still very much alive and well. Putting you in the midst of a detective adventure, Geralt confronts familiar monsters and new characters in a quest pack that pays deliberate homage to film noir. Another solid addon to Witcher 1, and a good reason to play the roughest of the trilogy’s offerings.

Celebrating Passion

The creators of two essential modding tools for Cyberpunk 2077 - Wolvenkit and Redscript - and who have history in the Witcher modding scene, have just been hired by CD Projekt Red to work more closely on fixes for Cyberpunk 2077, as well as more in-depth content creation powered by their community. This comes not long after CDPR’s statement that they felt the game was at an acceptable level of stability in regards to bug fixes and glitches, though players are still awaiting further changes after some new cosmetics and a new car were added to the game.

Future Ambitions

Yigsoft - the name for the team of individuals responsible for both tools - will continue operating independently for the time being, though, it is assumed, with official support from CDPR on development of new tools for the wider community to make use of. In addition, with further patches planned to the game and free DLC content packs making their way into the release build, Yigsoft may play a part in bringing features to the main game, not just facilitating additions to the game by the modding community.

The Right Move At The Right Time

Cyberpunk 2077’s modding community was predicated on a difficult launch for the game. Whilst social media initially blew up regarding hilarious bugs and glitches, the novelty wore off, and many players were left disappointed in the released product. Since then, CDPR has been releasing regular and substantial patches to the game, aiming to fix issues regarding stability in the game to as great an extent as possible. This hire reaffirms their promises to the community to fix up Cyberpunk, and is a good move from a company whose modders have greatly improved their products over the years. Showing recognition to community creators is always a great thing, and confirms that a little bit of passion goes a long way.

On the horizon is another big update for Witcher 3 with content focused on the newly-released Netflix show, and meanwhile, CDPR has stated they’re still working on multiplayer support for Cyberpunk. How mods will factor in at this time is unknown, but it's safe to say some patching will be necessary.