New Witcher 3 patch adds controversial quality of life change that some think subverts the series' fantasy

A new patch for The Witcher 3 just enabled the automatic use of oils in combat, and added a great fan mod.

Earlier today on May 11, patch 4.03 for all versions of The Witcher 3, both new and last-gen. Headlining the changes is the option to auto-use oils in the heat of combat, meaning Geralt will automatically apply the appropriate oil to his blade (provided you've got the oil on hand) for battering a monster.

Over on Reddit though, this change actually hasn't gone down that well. A few users are arguing that this defeats the objective of scoping out and scrutinizing a monster in detail, figuring out which oils to apply your blade and mastering the art of Witchering in the process. 

"The idea was that you were supposed to research a monster before you fought it and come prepared. As such, you could not apply oils in combat," writes one user. They further recall how CD Projekt removed the ability to apply oils in combat, pushing The Witcher 3's combat into "hack-and-slash" territory, something they believe has been furthered with this new change.

Elsewhere in the new patch, a new community mod has been officially integrated into The Witcher 3's new-gen versions with patch 4.03. This mod, called 'Next Gen Script Fixes' does exactly what it says on the tin, providing a litany of script fixes to eliminate bugs and other glitches and visual errors in the shiny new version of the RPG.

There's also a couple handy fixes for visuals on new-gen platforms and PC. Ray tracing being enabled will no longer throw up a weird grid of lights on your screen, and spider webs will no longer change color when the camera moves through them while the flashy tech is on.

Finally, there's five total bug fixes for the PC version of The Witcher 3, and two fixes for the console counterparts of the game. There's actually performance improvements for all versions of CD Projekt's game, but instead of being general performance boosts, they're fixing specific parts of The Witcher 3 when the graphics would get noticeably worse.

In other Witcher-related news, CD Projekt just revealed that The Witcher: Project Sirius, the spin-off game from the mainline series, has been successfully rebooted from its initial vision.

Read up on our upcoming CD Projekt Red games guide for a look over everything else the developer has on the go right now.