With news that The Witcher 3’s next gen release date is soon, and that new DLC and mod integration will be coming to CD Projekt Red’s seminal RPG game, you might be looking for an incredibly detailed The Witcher 3 mod. If so, a colossal combat overhaul Witcher 3 mod has just been released, and I hope it’s one of the projects CDPR considers folding into the main next gen release.
Called the “Advanced Combat System” and developed by apokryphus, this Witcher 3 mod doesn’t just do exactly what it says on the tin, it basically overhauls the animations, visuals, mechanics, and design of The Witcher 3’s open-world game combat.
All sets of humanoid combat animations, not just Geralt’s original ones, are available as in-game movesets. There are eight in total, each with unique combos, special abilities,counters, weapons arts and visual effects. There are even unique dodges, parry animations, weapon holding animations and more.
You can see some of the Witcher 3 mod in action below.
There’s even bow and arrow combat, and the godsend that is animation cancelling to let you start a new move before the last finishes. “This is by design,” says apokryphus, “since some NPC animations are too long in duration to be used properly by humans without this feature, and I see no need to append the animations when they can be cancelled.”
You can set these new attacks to either be sequential or distance-based. Sequential attacks will become more complex the further in the sequence you get, while distance-based is randomised depending on your proximity to an enemy. So customise to your heart’s content.
You can tie these movesets to the selection of magic signs, to each sword, mix-and-match all movesets, and more. There’s so much more to the mod as well that can be customised, with “just about every aspect” able to be changed, including a dynamic enemy behaviour system that can shift enemy AI as the fight progresses. There’s even an entire index you can find from the mod page, which acts like a comprehensive instruction booklet on how the mod works.
There’s a lot on the way from CD Projekt Red, with new Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher games, alongside a mysterious third IP that’s going to be distinct from both of these franchises. So you won’t be left wanting for colossal RPGs from the Polish studio anytime soon that’s for sure.
