Update: Old Witcher 3 mods may be breaking a sex scene in the next-gen update

Update: I'm still waiting to hear back from CD Projekt Red and several Witcher 3 players regarding cutscenes purportedly being cut or broken in the next-gen update, but multiple new user reports claim the allegedly missing sex scene which sparked this hubbub is very much intact.

The original post from JT-117, which quickly flew up the Witcher 3 subreddit after claiming that a sex scene with Yennefer had been cut, hasn't been updated at the time of writing, but it has seen multiple new comments saying the same thing: the cutscene is still there, and has even been tweaked in line with the rest of the next-gen update, so if anything JT-117 may have some residual mods installed that borked it in their game. (Update: It seems they're not the only one, either; CDPR online lead Leszek Krupiński said as much on Twitter.)

This wouldn't come as a surprise given how big graphics updates often interact with legacy mods, especially since The Witcher 3's update actually used some mods made by the community. But The Witcher 3's well-known sex scenes, and all other cutscenes, are unchanged.

Original story follows...

The Witcher 3's big next-gen update adds a lot to the storied RPG, but it's also lost a few things in the pursuit of modernized graphics and quality of life, potentially including one of the sex scenes featuring Yennefer, one of the game's female leads. 

Eagle-eyed and unsurprisingly horny users on The Witcher 3 subreddit spotted the alleged omission in record time. JT-117 says they've been rushing the next-gen version of the game testing mod compatibility, and they soon noticed that – horror of horrors – "the Yen sex scene is gone!!!!!" They followed up to clarify that only the Yennefer sex scene tied to Kaer Morhen is seemingly missing; "the other one is... just fine," as they put it. 

I'm not able to verify the missing scene for myself right now (it's later in the game and I don't have a save for it), but it's worth noting that at least one other user claims the scene is still viewable. I've reached out to JT-117 to confirm what platform they're on and whether they have any mods installed that could've affected the cutscene. 

I've also reached out to CD Projekt Red to ask whether this scene was removed and why, what other cutscenes may have been lost or altered in the update (rated M or otherwise), and if this scene and/or others might return in a future update if there are problems with it. In the meantime, fans are speculating that this Yennefer scene could have been removed due to compatibility issues related to one of the mods which was folded in for the RPG's big update. 

As The Witcher 3 next-gen patch notes explain, a number of "community-made and community-inspired mods" were used in the update. This includes The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project by HalkHogan, HD Monsters Reworked by Denroth, Nitpicker's Patch by chuckcash, World Map Fixes by Terg500, and Immersive Real-Time Cutscenes by Teiji25. As you may have guessed, the last one, by Teiji25, seems to be the keystone here. 

Teiji25 actually ran into the same issue with this mod way back in 2020, as they explained in an old Nexusmods post covering seven cutscenes which "cannot be real-time rendered because of no real-time animation data available or other reasons." This Yennefer sex scene is on the list of no-gos, purportedly due to "unfinished animation data during the deer/wolf parts." If you've never played The Witcher 3 or seen this particular scene, don't worry about "the deer/wolf parts." They're, uh, symbolic. 

Via the official Witcher Twitter, developer CD Projekt Red said it is "aware of the issues PC players have been reporting since last night's release of the update," but it seems to be referring to performance issues unrelated to the bedroom and this scene in particular. We'll update our reporting if we get clarification from CDPR about cutscenes. 

The Witcher 3 has passed Elden Ring to become the best open-world RPG, again.