The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt News

Netflix's The Witcher gets its Philippa Eilhart

At long last, we know who will be playing sorceress Philippa Eilhart in Netflix's The Witcher series. The show, which is approaching the end of filming for its second season following some pandemic-related disruptions last year, will reportedly include the polymorphing sorceress well-known from the RPG games in the coming series, and she'll be played by actor Cassie Clare.

That's according to Witcher fan site Redanian Intelligence, which reports that Philippa Eilhart - advisor to Redania's King Vizimir II and leader of the Lodge of Sorceresses - will be joining Netflix's series in season two. IMDB notes that Clare is from London, UK, and joined the National Youth Theatre, before going on to act in TV shows like Delicious and The Bisexual, as well as films such as Beauty and the Beast and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again.

There aren't any details, sadly, on what we can expect from Philippa in series two of The Witcher, but given her role in the books by Andrzej Sapkowski and CD Projekt Red's games, we can guess she'll be pretty key to the plot in some way.

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This Witcher 3 mod records all dialogue, making progress tracking a doddle

There are some quests in The Witcher 3 that call on Geralt to take on the role of a sleuth - that is, follow some trails of clues to solve mysteries for the weird and wonderful folk of The Continent or move ahead in the open-world game's story. While the in-game journal does a pretty good job of recording where you're at in a quest, a new mod could make progress tracking even easier.

Modders Wolfmark and ClickNine's 'Dialog Log' mod for CD Projekt Red's RPG game saves all the chatter that pops up over the course of Geralt's adventures, including NPC speech and dialogue from cinematics. The mod records the previous 500 'messages' that have appeared, which you can then display using a pop-up window in the game. This shows how long ago the speech occurred, and handily separates out entries from NPCs and "main characters".

While, sure, it's likely to get cluttered with the endless babble, chit-chat, and coughs that NPCs effuse in crowded spots like Novigrad, when out in the wilds trying to crack a case, it's easy to see how the mod could be hugely handy.

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This Witcher 3 mod gives Ciri Geralt's best armour

Ok, ok - I know 'Geralt's best armour' is totally subjective. I mean, the gruff, grey-headed star of The Witcher 3 has more than a few to choose from in the RPG game, whether that's those looted from about the Continent to the Witcher school sets earned through tireless treasure hunts and levelling. That said, there's no denying the Ursine - or Bear School - gear is very high up there. And now, Geralt doesn't have to hog it all to himself - Ciri can wear it, too.

That's thanks to a new Witcher 3 mod simply called 'Ciri's Witcher Gear - Ursine' by creator Bububull, which - yep, you guessed it - gives Geralt's child of surprise her adoptive papa's cool, heavy, chainmail-based armour set. It's a really faithful replica of Geralt's Bear School armour, and - best of all - looks to be based on the snazziest, highest level version of it: the Grandmaster Legendary Ursine armour, which comes as part of the open-world game's Blood and Wine DLC.

Ciri's version gets all the plate shoulder armour, chainmail and heavy fabric skirting, and metal gauntlets you might recall from Geralt's version.

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This Witcher 3 mod overhauls the RPG's starting area in glorious 4K

White Orchard is pretty stunning as-is, if a little ramshackle. The starting area where The Witcher 3 hero Geralt begins the RPG game's adventure, with its gloomy, windswept look and that music, is a lovely place to get acquainted with the game when you're out of the Kaer Morhen tutorial. Now, though, you can take it up a whole other level thanks to a new mod that overhauls its visuals with glorious photogrammetry-based 4K.

The creator behind some incredible Skyrim mods and Fallout 4 mods called - graphical overhaul series called 'Textures Redone' and 'Texture Overhaul', respectively - has posted a new treat on The Witcher 3's slice of Nexus Mods. Their latest creation extensively reworks White Orchard's own textures. "The mod will provide 4K professional made textures with PBR (physical-based rendering) features," modder Gorgulla says, explaining that this isn't "a simple recolour or a sharpen/upscale mod".

The mod folds in 4K textures that have been crafted using photogrammetry - a process of recording and replicating information about real, physical objects and the world through photographic imagery. It adds rendered textures with a physical basis, as well as more "realistic" aspects that mirror the real world, such as shadow occlusion and reflections.

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The best sex games on PC

What are the best sex games on PC? From steamy sexy times in The Witcher 3, space rumpy-pumpy in Mass Effect: Andromeda, to kinky bedroom antics in Fallout 4, these are the sexiest games on PC.

Sex. It's all around us. It's leaking out of the walls. It's flooding up through the floorboards. "Where's all this sex coming from?" screams your mother, as she puts the sofa up on cinder blocks to protect it from the rising tide of sex. "Get all of the white goods up the stairs!"

"Get with it mum, you massive prude," you shout in reply, opening the back door and allowing a great wave of filthy sex to wash over the living room, carrying your dad's slippers away in a frothy deluge while the family dog barks and barks, confused and soaking. That's sex for you. Or houses in low-lying flood plains. I can never remember which is which.

Anyhoo, if you're feeling a little... um, shall we say, 'stimulated', the following games all have copious amounts of virtual intercourse. Videogame bonking may not be particularly highbrow, with the act often portrayed as the equivalent of knocking a Barbie and Ken together, but hey, points for effort. Have a cold shower on standby: these are the best PC sex games around.

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