The Witcher 3 NPCs Kept Dropping Their Babies Due to an Unintended Side Effect of a Cut Mechanic

The Witcher 3 developers were truthful focused connected making a realistic situation for players that they accidentally created a morbidly hilarious broadside effect for the game’s pistillate NPCs.

In an interrogation with Edge Magazine, CD Projekt Red quest decorator Philipp Weber opened up astir the unintended consequences of this strategy, saying the squad was truthful honed successful connected creating a believable satellite that they ended up causing chaos, instead.

Weber explained that they wanted to springiness NPCs authentic behaviors to summation immersion and reward players for exploring the nooks and crannies of The Continent, peculiarly wherever tiny villages successful the countryside were concerned.

"Because we were focused connected the countryside, it was easier for players to go curious," helium began. "If a colony lone has 8 houses, radical volition privation to spot if the radical genuinely beryllium successful the world, oregon if it's conscionable fakery. Lots of radical nowadays are funny successful those kinds of details, and it truly came to haunt us."

At the time, Weber said the dev squad was "more focused connected simulating their due time and nighttime cycle" for these NPCs alternatively than giving them believable reactions to Geralt arsenic helium wandered astir their world. “When it came to really reacting to the player, determination wasn't that overmuch detail,” helium admitted.

This meant that, though the NPCs had their ain highly-specific schedules that made them look similar living, breathing radical going astir their regular lives, they weren’t precisely logical erstwhile it came to Geralt barging into their homes and swinging his weapons around.

"They would driblet what they're presently moving on, that happening would autumn to the ground, and they'd tally away, afraid,” Weber said.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, since it’s objectively funny) those ‘things’ included babies, which pistillate characters would propulsion to the level arsenic they fled from danger. "For a fewer weeks, women were conscionable dropping their babies, near and right,” helium said.

While this occupation ended up getting solved, it would person been perfectly chaotic to spot successful the last product. Weber shed a spot much airy connected their strategy erstwhile making NPCs successful general, saying that alternatively than giving them specfic instructions, they're capable to take from definite "spots of interest."

"Most NPCs successful villages, we don't springiness them circumstantial paths," helium explained. "We springiness them spots of involvement that are disposable and past they're the ones doing the pathfinding: 'Once I'm done with woodcutting, I'll take different point, and possibly bash carpentry successful beforehand of my house'. For the 50 sailors astatine Novigrad harbour, for example, we made 200 imaginable spots, truthful adjacent if each 50 were progressive astatine the aforesaid time, they would person options."

The adjacent introduction successful the Witcher bid is presently successful development. Centering connected Ciri, it does not yet person an authoritative merchandise date, but aboriginal gameplay footage was shown disconnected for the State of Unreal 2025 showcase. We can’t ideate NPCs volition beryllium tossing their babies successful this game, either, but you ne'er know. (It surely wouldn't beryllium wilder than the 'put the babe successful the oven' option.)

Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With 10 years of acquisition reporting connected games and entertainment, she’s got a storied inheritance successful the warring crippled community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her connected Twitter astatine @TheeMissGlaze.