Manual melee combat alone is not what makes The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's combat entertaining. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's combat mastery necessitates a thoughtful combination of potions, oils, and magical signs when hunting monsters and specters. Rather, melee combat that focuses entirely on high-stat weapons is sufficient against humanoid enemies. Fortunately, players who wish for more gore may indulge in a particular mod that is not for the faint of heart.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's hack-and-slash melee combat oftentimes includes cinematic finishers on humanoid enemies. Finishers may end in a lopped off arm, leg, or head, with no further effort made by the player to achieve the animation. But while some animations make for satisfying melee combat, there is much to be desired for fans who would prefer a visceral flourish in combat. Fortunately, a particular mod for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt grants players with a means to make combat more cinematic and gruesome, as is shown in a fan's gameplay footage.
KungFuChicken1990's footage showcases enemies being excessively eviscerated with the Brutal Blood mod, with dismemberments and decapitations resulting in obnoxious sprays of blood. The Brutal Blood mod leaves wide pools of blood beneath enemy corpses and creates sweeping splashes of blood from each melee execution that ends in an automated finisher. Geralt of Rivia is seen defeating an enemy without an automatic dismemberment, where the enemy is impaled by the sword. Here, there is no exaggerated gush of blood because the enemy was not killed during a dismemberment animation. KungFuChicken1990's footage ends with a slow-motion finisher animation that erupts a scattered rush of blood from the enemy's severed head.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's longevity has extended due to countless mods created by and for the community. KungFuChicken1990 admits that they are unable to list all the mods they have installed, but mentions "immersive cam, SCAAR combat animations, and a bunch of other QOL mods." Brutal Blood is similar to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's Ultra Gore mod, which grants players a 100% dismemberment rate. Each mod seems to add another dimensional layer to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt that players may experiment with and enjoy.
Fans have compared the mod's gratuitous blood to Quentin Tarantino films that share the same propensity for bombastic gore. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a relatively peaceful game at heart with relaxing music, and an emphasis on exploration and dialogue-heavy narrative sequences. But the Brutal Blood mod adds to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for players who wish to make regular combat against human enemies more exciting.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions also in development.