The Witcher 3 Fan Rebuilds Removed Game Ending

Thanks to a fan armed with a recently released toolkit, a once-hidden ending to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been rebuilt. They restored a scrapped ending scene involving The Witcher 3 protagonist Geralt of Rivia and the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg. Note that this article contains major spoilers for end-game content in The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt.

The Witcher 3 continues to impress with its massive and meaningful open world, as well as with the activity and fervor of its fan base. Thanks to updates deployed by developer CD Projekt Red, interest in the game almost matches that of major new releases, despite the game being nearly a decade old. That interest may be sustained further thanks to CD Projekt Red’s post-release updates, which keep the game alive in the manner of all-time RPGs like Skyrim or classic shooters like Half-Life or Doom.

In fact, it was the release of the official The Witcher 3 modding suite, REDkit, that enabled YouTuber Glassfish777 to explore and restore an ending cutscene that was previously removed from the final game by CD Projekt Red itself. That cutscene adds new context to The Witcher 3‘s story, particularly as it pertains to Yennefer, who plays a major role in both the game’s plot and Geralt’s life over the course of the entire series. Glassfish777’s restoration has been shared on their channel in a series of videos; YouTuber xLetalis gave a description of the mod and the restored end-game content via a video walkthrough.

The Witcher 3 Cut Content Includes Ending Scene With Yennefer and Geralt

Major spoilers for The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt followAs detailed by xLetalis, the uncovered Witcher 3 content restored by Glassfish777 extends the game’s ending by adding scenes to the aftermath of Geralt of Rivia’s battle against Eredin Breacc Glas, the story’s primary villain and King of the titular Wild Hunt. Whereas the final release ended with a timely teleportation by Yennefer, the restored content awakens Geralt in a medical tent following the battle. He leaves the tent and speaks to Yennefer about what happened in the Nilfgaard-Skellige war. Yennefer responds that the war has no victor, thanks to the passing of Crach an Craite, Jarl of Skellige. Geralt can also interrogate groups of NPCs about Ciri’s whereabouts and eventually visits Crach’s funeral with Triss Merigold.

The altered scene at the funeral transitions to one between Yennefer, Geralt, Triss, and the members of the Lodge of Sorceresses, another major player in The Witcher series and the primary subject of the restored content. In the new scenes, Yennefer betrays the Lodge after finding out where Ciri is, apparently having traded the sorceresses’ lives to the Nilfgaardian emperor in some kind of deal. Geralt is not happy with the result.

CD Projekt Red did not say why the ending was cut, but it’s not unusual for game narratives to change significantly during development, with whole storylines changed or scrapped for a variety of reasons. Perhaps it has more plans for the Lodge of Sorceresses in future Witcher games.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3 is the third major installment in the Witcher series. In this game, players once again take up the mantle of Geralt, a monster hunter who roams the open world taking on contracts. For this entry, the major plot follows the disappearance of Ciri, Geralt’s ward, and his attempts to find her.

Released

May 19, 2015

ESRB

M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content