There's a lot going on in The Witcher 3, but for as much as we see in Geralt's quest, there's plenty that didn't make the cut. One mechanic was a way for NPCs to show they were afraid of something, which got the cutting-room-floor treatment because people were, um, throwing away their children.
Philipp Weber, a quest designer on The Witcher 3, explains what happened. "Because we were focused on the countryside, it was easier for players to become curious," he tells Edge magazine.
"If a village only has eight houses, people will want to see if the people truly exist in the world or if it's just fakery," he continues. "Lots of people nowadays are interested in those kinds of details, and it really came to haunt us."
In 2026, creating scripts and pathways for a small rural community would be easy, but in 2012, it was a whole process. "We were more focused on simulating their proper day and night cycle," he remembers. "And when it came to actually reacting to the player there wasn't that much detail."
Rather than giving each a particular cycle, they made them rotate between particular activities. One might be cutting wood, then might go inside to eat, or walk elsewhere. This made places seem bustling, and prevented NPC congestion. "For the 50 sailors at Novigrad harbour, for example, we made 200 possible spots, so even if all 50 were active at the same time, they would have options," Weber says.
But then, once it came to making these characters terrified of something, it all went awry. "Our NPCs were supposed to have fear reactions," he reveals. "They would drop what they're currently working on, that thing would fall to the ground, and they'd run away, afraid. The problem was that one of the 'works' that mothers could do was to hold and cradle a baby. For a few weeks, women were just dropping their babies, left and right."
That's hilarious, in a particularly morbid kind of way, but definitely not ideal for the vibe CD Projekt Red was going for. Thus, it wound up being taken out entirely. I can only imagine how that looked to the team when they were playing. Personally, I think they could've left it in, just to see what players and reviewers would've noticed.
The Continent could use more laughs, is all I'm saying! I wonder if they figured this out for The Witcher 4 - guess we have to wait to find out.
