Finally, after 8 years Geralt can no longer eat chicken sandwiches, turkey legs, or pierogies underwater

The Witcher 3’s latest patch also stealth-buffed blade oils in a big way.

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The Witcher 3’s next-gen version continues to receive refinements and improvements fromCD ProjektRed, and while I thought the developer could never live up to the audacious excellence offixing the grass shadows(and thus the game itself), I have been proven grievously wrong. After eight long years, the same gap as between the O.G. Witcher and The Witcher 3, Geralt can no longer get his chow on underwater. Our boy’s days of noshing in the briney deep areno more. CDPR also fixed some other stuff too.

“With the exception of potions and decoctions, it’s now impossible for Geralt to eat or drink underwater,” the4.03 patch notesmention at the end, further explaining that “While the team agreed it might be possible to drink liquids from a corked flask, consuming pints of ale or grilled meats underwater is too much of a stretch.”

I love this to bits. I can imagine the brave, realism-focused CDPR dev refusing to give up, holding out Twelve Angry Men-style until the rest of the team finally relented and agreed that yes, itwasabsurd that Geralt could pause the game underwater, eat seven pierogies and slam four Viziman Champion lagers, then skewer some Drowners with his crossbow. Now he can only do thaton dry land.

The other big change in 4.03 to my eye is the option to auto-apply blade oils, the little anti-monster poisons Geralt can make in the alchemy system. PC Gamer news lead Andy Chalk was indignant about this aspect of the Geralt Simulation™ getting smoothed over, but I’m more agnostic. I definitely love how tactile and impactful the first Witcher’s alchemy was by comparison, but blade oils in The Witcher 3 already felt kind of vestigial, just something you have to remember to check off in the inventory screen every once in a while. Why not just flip the switch once andoptimize my build?

I popped over to Crookback Bog and sure enough, taking a swing at a drowner had my blade immediately slicked with Necrophage Oil. The game will automatically select the ideal poison for any situation as long as you have it crafted.

This feature did seem to bork my mods though, going by the compilation error I received on launch. I’m pretty sure the culprit was the quite goodFriendly HUDmod, and I would guess that other projects may also be affected. Usually mod creators just have to sort these things out in the days and weeks after a major patch, and I would expect to see a 4.03 edition of FHUD shortly. I’ve included the full patch notes (sans console-specific entries) below:

PC specific

Visual

Quests and gameplay

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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.

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