Changes are coming in The Witcher 3 remaster and Songs of the Past, and your trusty steed, Roach, is among the areas where you might notice some alterations. The mighty horse definitely has a distinct personality in the original game, and aspects of that have been upgraded for this update and the Songs of the Past DLC – but you can turn that all off if you prefer.
In an interview with Fall Damage, Karolina Kuzia, the design director at Fool’s Theory, the studio that helped make Songs of the Past, addressed whether Roach’s bugs had been fixed. “When it comes to Roach and her shenanigans, why take something that is light?” she asks.
She then passes the question to her colleague, Miles Tost, the level design lead at CD Projekt Red, who elaborates. “I don’t know of any Roach bugs, I think she’s perfect,” he says. “Having said that, one cool thing about the remaster update is that we have updates to Roach’s movement behavior, so on that count, that may be disappointing to you.”
Yes, that is a little disconcerting, because Roach is truly a singular equestrian companion, even if she has a tendency to get in doorways you need to get through and other impossible places. She’s a mess, but she’s our mess, and we’ve grown to love and accept her in all her multitudes.
CD Projekt Red anticipated this by adding a toggle for the older and newer behavioral patterns. “You can turn that off,” Tost adds. “If you prefer legacy Roach, the way you have grown to know her, be my guest.”
Be your guest I shall be, Mr. Tost. I do enjoy keeping some aspects like these in remasters, because they become indelible to my nostalgia. Roach reminds you you’re in a big, goofy fantasy game, and in a world like Geralt’s you need that sometimes.