The Witcher 3 multiplayer mod adds new setting-appropriate features, like the ability to form a totem pole of Geralts or turn into a fox

The Witcher 3 is a deep, textured game with incredible worldbuilding—worldbuilding that the Witcher Online mod on NexusMods delves deeply into. Finally, you can explore the Continent with your friends, doing setting-appropriate activities like (checks notes) er, riding about on each other's shoulders, and (frantically sweating, flipping through notes in a panic) turning into a little kitty cat.

The mod in question, which has been available since January of this year, is an impressive feat—turning the singleplayer game into a mini-MMO. But with that feat accomplished, it seems like mod author rejuvenate has been throwing in some madcap ideas just because.

The latest update really is a fascinating spread of sensible additions and utter nonsense—so I'll get the nonsense out of the way first. Players can now ride each other's heads, forming a kind of horrifying totem pole of Geralts to, I assume, scare the monsters of Skellige so thoroughly that they die of a heart attack.

You can also turn into a cat, if you want—or a fox, crow, or owl. Some of these morphs are genuinely pretty cool, mind. Being able to fly around Witcher 3's game world does sound neat, but still, I must've missed the bit where Geralt became half-doppler. Maybe it's in the books somewhere.

To take my tongue out of my cheek for a moment, there are some genuinely neat additions to the mod that are more in-line with what you'd expect, too: Player trading, shared horses and boats, a player menu, and 23 whole emotes to share with your friends. One of them is just called "baguette".

In all seriousness, it's neat to see this mod develop further from its fairly rudimentary origins. Making use of CD Projekt's open world to turn it into a little MMO is a wonderful example of the Witcher 3 mod community's ingenuity, and a perfect encapsulation of its balance between silliness and genuine improvements.