The company Stellar7Project released а new version of the The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt video game, in which the hero Geralt has post-covid syndrome (so-called prolonged covid) and is struggling with its consequences.

Long COVID Mode turns the real symptoms of this condition into negative in-game effects that make life significantly more difficult for both the wizard Geralt and the player.

Geralt's post-covid symptoms worsen as the disease progresses (shown on screen). There are generally four levels of illness, ranging from extreme fatigue to exhaustion. In the last stage: 

  • Stamina only regenerates up to 20% of maximum value,
  • Health drains by more than half,
  • Use of magical instincts leads to a state of unconsciousness,
  • Geralt's memory begins to weaken: he may lose a random item while opening the inventory,
  • While meditating, the hero will wake up earlier or later than the selected time.

As such, Long COVID Mode does not offer a universal cure for long-term covid, but allows you to mitigate the severity of the syndrome with an elixir called Tawny Owl. Rest is also helpful in the early stages.

The game's Long COVID Mode can be downloaded for free from the Nexus Mods website. To install you will need to either use the Nexus Mod Manage program or move the files to the desired folder. For now, this game mode is only compatible with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt version 1.31 or 1.32.

This video game mode was created for free on behalf of Long COVID Europe, which hopes to raise awareness among players about post-covid syndrome and the difficulties that accompany it (there are more than 65 million such people worldwide).