The critical acclaim that Cyberpunk 2077, a remaster of Wild Hunt is coming to capitalize on its past success and the hype of the second season of the Netflix series.
More and more fans are likely to re-experience the games again as a result along with more newcomers exploring this universe for the first time. All three games in the trilogy have been critically well-received, though the first in particular has shown its understandable age. The game originally launched exclusively for PC back in 2007, but thanks to that corner of the gaming community, there are several mods that help to maintain The Witcher as an enjoyable experience in 2021.
The Witcher Overhaul Project
Lexo1000's comparable to Skyrim's graphical refresher mods. According to the creator, the vast majority of the original game's vanilla textures are replaced with upscaled versions. To break them down into two categories, vanilla textures that were 512x512 have been replaced by hi-res ones that are 1024x1024, while the vanilla 1024x1024 ones are replaced with 2048x2048 versions.
It's certainly an excellent way to facelift the game overall a bit further out of 2007 graphically, and the improved visuals are still lore-friendly to The Witcher world that CD Projekt Red created based on Andrej Sapkowski's series of books. This mod also effectively replaces the Texturan Mod, as that one only sharpened the game's textures without actually improving their resolutions.
Hi-Res Character Models
Aside from the environments, improving the visuals of the characters in The Witcher would be the natural next step. The Hi-Res Character Models mod by Roxtar was originally a complement to the older Texturan Mod but still pairs nicely with The Witcher Overhaul Project. Like the more outdated Texturan Mod, Hi-Res Character Models doesn't literally give the character models a higher resolution but sharpens the textures to modestly improve them.
However, with the better environments of the Overhaul Project installed, Hi-Res Character Models give a more complete visual update for this 14-year-old game. Certain characters, like Zoltan infamously, still won't be done too many favors given what the vanilla game forced modders to work with, unlike how much character mods have evolved by The Witcher 3's time.
Text Size Increase
It's a simple and straightforward mod, but a necessary one nonetheless if players aim to venture back to the series' original game in an era of higher resolutions. The vanilla version of The Witcher had a familiar problem of older RPGs - and on PC - in that, the text in menus was painfully small to read.
That becomes a particular issue when playing on modern screens; especially at 4K resolution. A simple install of the Text Size Increase mod adjusts the in-game text of The Witcher to be readable in higher fonts at the higher resolutions the game wasn't originally designed to be played on.
Item Stacking And Equipment Slots
In most RPGs, picking up loot discovered throughout the game's world and defeated enemies is crucial. Of course, all that equipment is going to take up space in the player's inventory slots. The basic version of The Witcher was quite limited in what Geralt could carry, only allowing players to store items in stacks of 10 or 50, which clearly doesn't last long. Encumbrance is a similar issue even in , which the remaster should address.
The Item Stacking and Equipment Slots mod is somewhat similar to the Text Size Increase mod in of simplicity but is even more useful in of quality-of-life enhancements in the modern day. This mod lets players stack up to 999 of any given item and also lets the player store weapons in any one of Geralt's equipment slots to make even more room.
Fairer Trade
Another popular element implemented into RPGs is a trading system when buying and selling with town merchants. It can be a good gameplay mechanic to incorporate for the sake of immersing players into the world and asking them to think carefully about resource management while adventuring through the game.
But while this is a good idea on paper for a dark-fantasy RPG, it can also come off as punishing and/or a needless hindrance within the context of playing a game. The Fairer Trade mod offers a nice tweak to the vanilla version's limitations by letting Geralt sell items for around 40 percent more orens. It's a welcome QOL addition while still maintaining the spirit of the mechanic and in-game universe.
Full Combat Rebalance
While this is, in a sense, a QOL improvement mod, the Full Combat Rebalance mod is also for those who are willing to add an extra layer of challenge to The Witcher in the process. The combat is one of the more obvious gameplay mechanics to show wear and tear over the years, as it's ittedly repetitive at points and feels clunky like one would expect a niche action-RPG from 2007 to play like.
Like with what mods for The Witcher 3 that improve combat for new and old players, this mod overhauls the original game's action from damage calculation to enemy difficulties in order to create more nuanced combat sequences that have a heightened air of tension and risk.
