Witcher 3 mod restores a darker ending for the Hearts of Stone expansion that was cut during development

Brothers in Arms is a mod for The Witcher 3 that combines bug fixes with restoration of cut content. It's a frequently updated mod—last time we checked it restored a bunch of dialogue, including a Yennefer romance scene—but the most recent update is particularly substantial. The lengthy list of additions in version 3.1.0 includes the note: "Restored a completely new plotline - Shani's fate during Hearts of Stone expansion. Features a new ending for the expansion (optional)."

As shown by YouTube's exhaustive Witcher 3 documenter xLetalis in the video above, this plotline helps explain why Shani returns in the Hearts of Stone expansion. At one point in development her life would have been at stake if you crossed the expansion's villain Gaunter O'Dimm.

The restored scenes use dialogue found in the game files, which suggests this plotline was cut quite late in development, but everything else has been made from scratch. It's incredible how well it fits, with everything from camera angles to character animations and lip-sync up to the standard of the rest of the game.

That said, I'm not particularly fussed this storyline was cut. The conclusion, in which your local version of Lucifer kills Shani with lightning, doesn't seem quite right. It's an unsubtle maneuver, and one that can be countered because the wording of his specific threat, "there will be no place under the sun where she will be safe," doesn't extend to the cellar. Though it does include the other indoor areas of her house? I prefer the way things play out in the version we've already got.

Fortunately, Brothers in Arms lets you choose what you add, with an extensive in-game menu letting you toggle its various additions. You can download it from Nexus Mods. If you're using other mods, you'll want to run Script Merger as well to detect conflicts and let you merge them to override any problems.