Witcher 3 dev's new mod lets you experience an alternative version of Blood and Wine's most memorable quest

You there. You like The Witcher 3 right? Well, it got some fresh modding tools last month, and, thanks to one CD Projekt developer's desire to try them out, you can now experience a bit of an alternative version of one of the most iconic quests from the excellent Blood and Wine DLC.

Even if you haven't take a trip to Toussaint in a while, odds are you'll definitely remember 'Beyond Hill and Dale': while you do have to pick a specific ending to the expansion's great main story in order to play through it, it's pretty hard to forget a mission that transports you into a fairytale-inspired magical realm. Though, said realm wasn't always supposed to be full of sunshine and rainbows, as a new mod shows.

The mod in question is 'Golden Beyond Hill and Dale', and it's by CD Projekt Red narrative director Philipp Weber. Yep. So, why did Weber make it?

Well, as he's explained in a tweet: "Three days ago I decided to try out the new Redkit for The Witcher 3 myself! Redkit is basically the same tool we used to make the game. Playing around with it was so fun that I even made a little mod for one of my quests from Blood and Wine."

That mod aims to let you get a glimpse of an "alternative version" of the Land of a Thousand Fables - an illusion that's full of fairytale characters which poor Gerry from the Riviera ends up exploring for reasons I'll avoid getting to deep into in order to avoid spoilers - because Blood and Wine is definitely worth enjoying without them.

So, what's Weber changed? Well, as he explains in the mod's description: "When the quest was originally designed, there was a vision of making it a melancholic representation of the classic fairy tales from the Brother's Grimm set in a dying forest, illuminated by a setting sun."

"In the end," the developer continues, "instead of a dying forest, we chose to make it a more vibrant fairy tale land, still showing more of the beauty the land originally had, when it was created for Syanna and her sister Anna Henrietta."

"In this mod, I tried to recreate this original vision, because I was always curious how it would have looked. This is not supposed to be a replacement for what shipped in the game, but an interesting alternative that shows what could have been."

Taking a look at the pictures Weber's provided of what the environment looks like with the mod installed - which he's handily juxtaposed with the same shots of the realm's vanilla appearance - the change in vibe and tone looks really impressive, with the orange sky and overgrown foliage arguably making the area fit a bit better with the ambiance a lot of the base game's locales boast. It might not be for you if you prefer a Land of a Thousand Fables that delibrately feels like Toussaint's idyllic landscape turned up to the max, but it's very cool regardless.

If you're thinking about dipping back into The Witcher 3 to check it out, make sure to check out our array of helpful guides for CDPR's masterpiece.