9 years later, The Witcher 3 modders discover a brutal extended Yennefer ending that was cut from the RPG's climactic sequence

gamesradar.com:

Nine years after The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launched, its recently-released modding kit has allowed players to uncover a cut portion of its ending in which Yennefer actively causes the downfall of the Lodge of Sorceresses.

The Witcher 3 Redkit was made available in May, granting players full mod support over CDPR's sprawling RPG. It wasn't long before Redkit was being used to create what might prove to be a pretty good early look at The Witcher Remake, but the tools have other uses too, like uncovering content cut from the very end of the game.

In a new video (via PCGamer), modders Glassfish and xLetalis outlined their discovery of unused files which they were able to reimplement in a debug mode of The Witcher 3. Those files differ from the final game, in which the fate of the Lodge of Sorceresses - an influential group of female magic users - is never really discussed. Geralt defeats Eredin and heads off to save Ciri from Avallac'h, while Sorcs don't really get a look in.

That wasn't always what was planned, however. The extended scene finds Geralt waking up post-boss fight in a Niflgaardian army medical tent before reconnecting with Yennefer, where he discovers that Ciri is missing. Several cutscenes play out, and there's a chance to speak with a number of characters as Geralt explores. The biggest change, however, is a section where you take Yennefer to the Lodge. The animation isn't complete, but it seems as though Geralt's goth gf sabotages a ritual that's taking place, allowing several high profile Sorceresses to be discovered - and later killed - by Nilfgaard.

The scene isn't entirely complete - no great surprise since it never made it to the full game - but it's surprisingly far along. Voice acting, player choice, and exploration all suggest that this was a pretty late cut, likely one intended to preserve the pace of the game's finale. I'm reminded of The Last of Us 2's Lost Levels, which explained how Naughty Dog put sections of the game together, and why