Forget New Releases, Witcher 3 Will Be Your Game Of The Year (Again)

Summary The Witcher 3's free REDkit mod editor on Steam will empower modders to create content to rival the original game.

Mods are essential for a game's longevity, but managing conflicts between different mods can be challenging.

The REDkit mod editor will require high specs, time, effort, and patience from players, but it could enhance the game significantly.

The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt has become a cult favorite after its 2015 GOTY win and has earned legendary status in the gaming industry. Thanks to the many decisions and well-told story of the title, it is one often revisited by its community, which is bolstered thanks to the popularity of the novels that the series is based on. CD Projekt Red has continued to support the game, having given it a free, next-gen update back in late 2022, and its latest could see the title surpass others that are set to release this year.

CD Projekt Red has announced that they will release The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt REDkit mod editor to Steam on May 21, 2024, with it being developed alongside Yigsoft. This is a tool for modding, similar to The Elder Scrolls 5 Skyrim's Creation Kit, and will be a powerful one in the hands of talented modders. The Witcher 3 already has quite a diverse and popular modding scene, so with the addition of the tool, it looks like the game will have enough longevity to tide players over until a Witcher sequel is released.

Related 8 Best Swords In The Witcher 3 The Witcher 3 has many weapons and specifically many swords to choose from, but there are some swords that stand out more than others.

How Mods Can Make The Witcher 3 GOTY Again

A Whole New Wild Hunt

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There aren't many surefire ways to ensure that a game will be virtually immortal, but mods do help in this case, which could give players a reason to revisit The Witcher 3. Mod authors are also known to be great creators, with Enderal Forgotten Stories (a total conversion mod for Skyrim) being a good example of a fan-made project arguably surpassing the game it was for. This could be the case for The Witcher 3 with this tool in the hands of the community, despite the high bar CD Projekt Red has set.

Enderal can be downloaded for free on Steam as a separate game from Skyrim. There is also a Special Edition version using Skyrim SE as its base.

The Witcher 3 was amazing visually in 2015 and its graphics have aged well for a title nearly 10 years old, but there has been a new console generation since its release. Mods can improve these graphics to match if not even surpass, the visual fidelity of modern titles with new scripts for lighting, improved model quality, and better textures. Sometimes, with developer-made mod editors in their hands, mod authors can make a game look like a tech demo for a new engine, provided that a player's PC can run everything.

Mods For The Witcher 3 Will Require Patience

There May Be Early Issues

Mods are known to improve the gaming experience, as well as give titles unparalleled longevity. Players only need to look at Skyrim or Fallout 4 as an example, and with efficient sites and tools for installing mods, there isn't a better time to invest in a modding community. The downside is how difficult it can be to get certain mods to work together due to being by different mod authors who have not worked together. Conflicts between files are common, and it can be a frustrating process to get it all to work.

Load order (the order in which mods are loaded) is important in ensuring that conflicts between files can be resolved. Typically, a mod author will state where their file should be placed in the load order on their page.

Mods, just like games, can take time to make. Small, cosmetic changes are easy enough to implement, but if The Witcher 3 is to have something on the scale of Fallout London, the project will need time and a team. The REDkit mod editor allows for such projects to even be attempted, and it seems as though it will be a powerful tool. Unfortunately, it will require higher specs than The Witcher 3, with 16GB of RAM and a GeForce RTX 3080 graphics recommended on Steam.

Related Massive The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Overhaul Makes The Game Worth Revisiting The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's massive free update may give players a major reason to revisit the game almost a decade after its initial launch.

An Exciting Future For The Witcher 3

A Reason To Revisit

With its vast, open world, The Witcher 3 is the perfect playground for mod authors to make brand-new content for the title. With the REDkit mod editor, this new content could eclipse the work of the original, developing the title into a project that even modern games can't live with. Of course, this will require time, effort and some frustration from players attempting to use mods, since it is known to be an arduous process at times, but the end product could be well worth it.

The Witcher 3 REDkit is free to download to Witcher 3 owners on Steam when it releases on May 21, 2024.

The Wild Hunt has already hooked the gaming industry once when it was released back in 2015. With the world still waiting for more open-world fantasy RPGs, like Avowed or Dragon Age Dreadwolf, more of The Witcher 3 is exactly what fans of the genre need to tide themselves over. Some of the new content, graphical upgrades and personal catering of the mods could be so good that The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt could become a GOTY contender again, at least in a player's heart.

Sources: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - REDkit/Steam