I’ve been replaying The Witcher 3 over the past couple of weeks, and every so often I’ll notice something is slightly different than it was the first time I played. That’s because slowly but surely, CD Projekt Red has been adding free stuff to the game.
I decided to look back over what they have added so far, and to periodically check in on other things as they’re added. There have been two DLC packs so far, with a third coming this week. The additions have been pretty minor, like the kinds of pre-order exclusive doodads that are eventually included in Game of the Year editions. Only, you know, free for everyone.
First of all, we got the Temerian Armour set, which includes a full set of armour for Geralt and a full set of gear for his horse, Roach. (Yeah, it’s basically horse armour DLC.) You have to buy it from that merchant you save near the start of the game, who sets up shop in the town of White Orchard. The armour actually looks pretty cool:
And it appears to level with you — I was level 31 when I went and bought it, and it required level 29 to use. I’ve seen videos showing it as level 4 armour, which makes me think it changes depending on your level.
Thing is, it’s still nowhere near as good as the mastercrafted cat-school armour I’ve got Geralt wearing, and the horse gear is way worse than the stuff I’ve bought over the course of the game. So, as with most armour in The Witcher 3, Geralt’s custom Witcher gear renders it irrelevant. If you’ve been following my advice and doing the Witcher gear treasure hunts, you won’t really need it.
The other part of the first update was meatier… or rather, beardier. It added several possible haircuts to the game, along with several new beard styles. You can go with some friendly (goofy) mutton chops:
or a soul patch:
Or a bushy goatee:
You can get your hair cut short on top with a ponytail:
which looks kinda punk but… kind of weird, really. Or you can go with a dreamier look, long-ish with no ponytail:
There are a few other options, as well. Honestly, they all look a little bit odd when compared with the old standbys of “High Tight Ponytail” and “Loose With Ponytail,” but it’s nice to have options.
In the second update, we got a new outfit for Yennefer of Venberberg, which adds some Morrigan-esque feathers to her ensemble, along with some sex-ay lace stockings:
You can turn it on and off under the “Downloadable Content” tab in the main menu. The new outfit is fine, but doesn’t seem to integrate into some cutscenes as well as her default outfit. Also, last night I noticed she was flipping back to her default outfit for pre-rendered cutscenes, then returning to the new one for in-engine stuff, making me wonder if she was popping off to a dressing room in between scenes to change. Sorceresses have mysterious ways, so it’s certainly possible.
The meatiest free addition has been a contract quest called “Missing Miners.” It’s a level 27 quest involving some… well, you can probably guess! Some miners have gone missing. This being The Witcher 3, a monster is probably involved. The quest itself is pretty simple — you can find it on a notice board in the middle of Skellige. The board will turn yellow on your map, which indicates that there’s a new quest there. While the contract can be resolved in a couple of different ways, it’s not particularly involved, as Witcher 3 sidequests go.
CD Projekt Red has got a bunch more free DLC planned; they say there’ll be a total of sixteen DLC packs. Hopefully this stuff will get more substantial as we go; it’d be awesome to get a few ultra-high-level contracts for those of us who are already at or near the end of the game. Still, it’s hard to complain too much when it’s all free, and when the base game is already so massive. I’ll keep an eye on the rest of the upcoming DLC as it comes out.
Comments
18 responses to “The Witcher 3’s Free DLC So Far: Monsters, Beards, And A Pretty Dress”
Be nice if CDPR gave priority to fixing some of the bugs, like the vanishing merchants that hold unique gwent cards. Oh and the way you can experience harvest by 1 shot killing level 10 downers on the Coast of Wrecks. Not to forget that gem of leaving 1 item in a beefy loot chest you can then simply spin the camera around 360 degrees & all the items magically reappear.
This is free. Stop acting like a piece of garbage. The greater the whinge does not equate to greater legitimacy. You’ve got free shit and patches are being released regularly, use your damn brain.
Read it again. Your straw man argument doesn’t hold up. I never said I don’t appreciate the free DLC & irrespective of your opinion about the frequency of the patch releases, TW3 is still riddled with game breaking bugs some 18 days after launch. I hope this mornings release of the 1.04 patch on PSN goes a long way to mending them. What I said was that I think getting the game to a point where gamers can actually complete the Main Quest would be a priority for CDPR over & above releasing DLC. I wont stoop to your level of throwing insults, calling people you don’t even know brainless whinging garbage, despite your reply making no sense of my original statement at all.
After the DRM quest, the Self Help book and now horse armour DLC, CDPR are making a claim for the pisstake awards.
So any idea how old the horse is?
CD Projekt, doing day one dlc and dlc in general right. Theyve got this uncanny ability to be one of only 2 companies to make me feel ok about buying a season pass, like Im doing the right thing. The other being Bethesda…
Hrm. I remember seeing/doing all of these things on launch or in launch week… are these really new DLC? Or just compared to the review copy that games journos finished with a month ago?
It definitely is new DLC. They listed it as coming out as DLC way back in November last year.
http://thewitcher.com/news/view/867
The cynic in me argues that this DLC is a pretty hollow gesture, as it’s content that has clearly been ready for ages and could have just been part of the main game. The optimist in me acknowledges the olive branch that it is, showing that they understand how silly the usual nickle and dime (excuse the Americanism) approach to day one DLC is, and that they’re in on the joke and appreciate their customers’ business.
Plus CD Projekt Red always support these games with patches for a long time after release so it’s hard to wear my cranky-pants for too long.
Also, this game is so bloody huge (it’s actually really overwhelming) and has so much content already, so as usual with any sort of DLC and content within a game in general it’s “How long is a piece of string?”
Ah, here we go. Thanks for the link. That confirmed it. The first DLC was in fact day one for me, and the Yennefer set + new quest was out in the first week, which is when I did them, and the first time I saw Yen in Skellige, which explains why it’s not exactly ‘new’ DLC. Unless you’re a reviewer or didn’t get the day one patch, it looks like it wasn’t actually possible to play without the hair/armour DLC.
Looks like this week’s DLC is some Nilf armour + crossbows.
They were separate to the the patch (on PS4 at least).
They pop up as DLC under the game tab when you select it but haven’t hit play yet.
On an annoying note I think you have to be on the internet to play a save with the DLC on it. My wifi was down and the game wouldn’t load my save and then the other night there was PSN maintenance and my save wouldn’t load… pretty brutal as it was my only free night this week.
I’ve got it on Steam. It installed the DLC when it installed the game, seamlessly.
I think CDPR are releasing these more as a way to poke fun at publishers who give bonus items and perks for pre-orders with certain retailers (yes Ubisoft talking about you) and then classify these “exclusive” items as DLC post-release.
is it me or they look similar
http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/5800000/FFX-final-fantasy-x-x-2-5868068-1024-768.jpg
Yeh the armor was a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping it would be more like a cosmetic thing that you could apply as a look to your character rather than actual armor pieces because of the reasons you mentioned… same with the horse stuff.
But hey… it’s free DLC.. so can’t really complain all that much.. just seems to be a missed opportunity is all.
“You can get your hair cut short on top with a ponytail”
Mate, that’s a fucking mullet. No two-ways about it.
Thank you for putting all of this information together! I finally downloaded the DLC’s last night when I realised they weren’t coming out as patches, just free downloads in the store. I had no idea where to buy the new armour. Or find that miner quest (still too low to try it comfortably). Although I did notice Yen’s new outfit, and found it to be pretty damn nice.
They may be small, but they’re free and somehow adding more value to a game that is already so damn meaty and huge. Props to CD Projekt Red. Amazing.
FFS! I have heard about this Temerian armour on the forums. I never really checked where it was obtained, just thought I’ll run into it. Now the info above confirms the worst for me. lolol.
That merchant in my game got killed by drowners!!
I’m slightly disappointed the Pretty Dress in the title isn’t for Geralt….
Give the modders a few days…
Im pretty sure I found a book in Novigrad somewhere that talks about large vessels, and how to avoid them…