Ever wanted to play The Witcher 3 with friends? An online multiplayer mod has arrived

We can now finally play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with other people courtesy of a new online multiplayer mod.

The mod, called simply Witcher Online, makes the game into a sort of MMO-like experience, in that you can lark around with groups of people, chat via text, and perform emotes while you hang around wherever you want in the game. I don't know how 'massively' the multiplayer component is, as in how many people can play together, but a video of Witcher Online shows a maximum of five players together, so perhaps that offers a clue?

Specifically, the Witcher Online mod allows you to host or join servers online playing The Witcher 3. You can all work your way through the game together, if you want, or you can mess around doing whatever you want to pass the time.

You don't all have to be Geralt. A Custom Player Characters mod lets you play as any of the notable characters in the game and tweak the appearance of them, so if you think Yennefer is the real hero of the story, make it so.

Note: you'll need a copy of the game in order to play. Also note: it does appear to be rather buggy. Players in the Witcher Online video seem to frequently fall upwards into the sky. Perhaps it's to do with conflicts between different instances of the game. Maybe mounting Roach in one instance but looks like they're falling into the sky in another instance. It's a perilous business, horse riding.

The mod, made by Nexus Mods user rejuvenate, appeared a little earlier in January, and arrives in a year of rather unexpected Witcher 3 activity. Rumour has it that there's an add-on or expansion for the 11-year-old game that will launch this year, possibly bridging the gap between The Witcher 3 and The Witcher 4, and possibly taking place in Zerrikania, a desert-like place and biome we haven't explored before.