New-and-improved Witcher 3 first-person mod includes full combat functionality

The Witcher 3 has some phenomenal fantasy environments, including one of our favorite cities in PC gaming, Novigrad. The third-person camera does a good job of zooming in and letting you absorb all the detail of those lavish interiors, but sometimes you just want the intimacy and immersion a first-person camera could provide.

More from the Witcher world

The Witcher 3 - Geralt artwork — (Image credit: CD PRojekt RED)

The Witcher 4: What we know
The Witcher season 3: Trailers and cast
Witcher 3 mods: Good hunting

We reported on a previous mod that added a first-person camera to the Witcher 3 back in 2016, but the download page and video demonstration of that project both seem to have been taken down.

Luckily, crthdr over on NexusMods has released their own first-person mod, and it goes even farther than that initial 2016 project. Gervant First Person makes the entire game playable from the first-person perspective—even the combat.

Now, I'm not entirely sold on tackling The Witcher 3's most difficult fights from first-person, but that provides a helpful transition into one of my favorite features of the mod: a mappable toggle for on-the-fly switching between first- and third-person, similar to how The Elder Scrolls games or Grand Theft Auto 5 implement the feature officially.

Image 1 of 2

first person view of harpies — (Image credit: CD Projekt, user brandonzxcv on YouTube)

Crthdr is even working on first-person versions of the Witcher 3's cutscenes. It's not a feature I think I'd take advantage of, but I respect the ambition and technical know-how required to pull it off.

A shift in perspective can sometimes be just the thing to refresh a well-worn experience. I've played through the first Witcher numerous times with its Enhanced Edition's over-the-shoulder camera, but I found myself really taken aback and looking at things with fresh eyes when I tried the isometric camera mode from the game's initial release. I think I'll take advantage of crthdr's mod when I replay The Witcher 3 next (after going through all of The Witchers one and two again, naturally.)

TOPICS

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.