The Witcher 3 now has online multiplayer thanks to a mod, allowing gaggles and gangs of Geralts to gather

As much as single-player solitude’s a big reason why I love getting lost in The Witcher 3, running around its world with a small crew of mates also seems like it’d be a nice time. A good thing it is then that a new mod for the decade old RPG allows it to host online multiplayer sessions with several players running amok at once.

Named Witcher Online and spotted by Polygon, the mod’s the work of a user going by Rejuvenate7. As they demonstrate in the trailer above, their creation’s mainly focused on simply letting you hang out in The Witcher 3’s gorgeous world with your mates on a custom server, with emotes providing basic ways to interact with each other. The premise is similar to mods like Skyrim Together, though Witcher Online seems less advanced than that mammoth project at this stage. By the looks of it, gangs of up to five characters are supported.

You can wander the streets of Novigrad or Toussaint, go riding or swimming together, get a fresh trim, or just find somewhere with a nice view to sit and chat. Witcher Online’s also compatible with another mod, Chill Out, which looks to be responsible for some of the emotes and facilitates hanging out in taverns. By default, everyone plays as their own Geralt, but grabbing the Custom Player Characters mod allows you to swap his model out for the likes of Yennefer or Lambert.

You can technically do missions and contracts together, as shown in the video above, but this comes with the caveat that “other players cannot help you fight monsters, solve puzzles, or complete objectives”. So, you’ll be playing together simply by trying to work through each story beat in your character’s version of the game world simultaneously, for example trying to sync up when you all step into a certain cutscene and which choices you make. Rejuvenate7 wrote that they’ve gone this route to prevent risk of folks’ saves corrupting or softlocking, which very much makes it a worthy sacrifice in my eyes.

To get started with Witcher Online, you’ll need a non-pirated copy of The Witcher 3 from either Steam or GOG, updated to its latest version, 4.04. If you’re unsure which version you’re running, verifying your game files should push you up to that latest one. You also look to need the Blood and Wine and Hearts of Stone DLCs, plus the Community Patch – Shared Imports mod. Beyond that, there’s a setup guide here.

Now, all I need to do is find someone willing to accompany me on a jog up towards Kaer Trolde, so we can chill on the bridge in a fashion which definitely won’t see them nudged off the edge to see how big a splash that causes.