Sailing around in a small boat and occasionally sinking it because you don’t want to kill the Sirens trying to destroy it is a core part of what makes exploring – or traveling between missions – fun in The Witcher 3. But if you’ve ever thought you needed a vessel that could safely house all the drowned heads Geralt keeps in his saddlebags, a new mod lets you sail a full-sized ship.
Yes, this is one of the pet projects made possible by the game’s REDkit modding tool, and it’s far from the first sea-based project. Another mod restores boat racing, which was removed from the game in July.
Manage cookie settings
TrickArrant’s ‘Sail Big Ship’ not only boasts one of the best ‘does what it says on the tin’ names in Nexus Mods, it also allows Gerry of Rivia to climb aboard a pilotable version of the large frigate that can be found in ports in places like Novigrad, which are static objects in the base game. It’s “pretty cheesy”, according to the creator, so you’ll have to park your immersion at the door for a bit.
Seriously, there is a section of instructions titled “Jank Summary” that is longer than the instruction manual. The latter basically tells you to go to the ports of Novigrad or Kaer Trolde, as there are special large ships currently docked there that you can control. You need to jump up to the main deck, go to the wheel, and use the boom. As you can see in the video below, Geralt sits in the air in front of you, allowing you to control the large ship. This is because this mod basically looks like it puts the large ship on top of a basic rowboat.
Watch on YouTube
So there are a lot of quirks to watch out for, the most important of which is that you can swim over the side of the ship because the collisions are only on the deck. But if you fall into the water, you can actually get back on the ship like this. Swim over the side of the big ship, find a small rowboat inside, and jump on it and you’ll be teleported to the deck of the frigate. Think of it like a portal, even if Geralt doesn’t like it. This quirk allows the big ship to pass through objects and fly in when enemies attack.
“This took a lot more work than I thought it would take for the ship’s mechanics to make, and while it’s finally usable, it’s far from perfect,” TrickArrant wrote. “But honestly, I think it’s a fun one-time mod that you can install, play with for 10-20 minutes, and then probably throw away.”
If you have a PS5 and just want to play The Witcher 3 for 10-20 minutes, you obviously can’t do this mode. However, the game is at least part of this month’s PS Plus lineup, so you might be able to save a little money.
