Witcher 3 mod restores darker Hearts of Stone ending cut during development
Brothers in Arms mod for The Witcher 3 has long been known as an extensive collection of bug fixes and restored content. The mod receives regular updates – developers previously restored numerous cut dialogues, including a romantic scene with Yennefer – but the latest version 3.1.0 proved particularly significant. Among the lengthy list of additions, one key note stands out:
Restored a completely new plotline – Shani's fate during Hearts of Stone expansion. Features a new ending for the expansion (optional).
As demonstrated by YouTuber xLetalis, known for exhaustive documentation of The Witcher 3 content, the restored plotline explains why Shani returns in Hearts of Stone at all. At one point in development, her life would have been at stake if players chose to cross the expansion's villain – Gaunter O'Dimm.
The restored scenes use dialogue found in the game files, suggesting they were cut quite late in development. Everything else – camera angles, character animations, and lip-sync – was recreated from scratch, with quality impressively matching the original game's standard.
That said, CD Projekt RED's decision to cut this storyline appears justified. The ending, where the game's version of Lucifer kills Shani with lightning, feels rather inelegant. O'Dimm's threat that
Brothers in Arms mod lets you choose which changes to activate through an in-game menu with toggles. Download the mod from Nexus.
When using other mods, running Script Merger is recommended to detect conflicts.
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