CD Projekt Red has dropped The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered today, outlining every change that has been made in the new release compared to the original.
Eleven years on since the original release, The Witcher 3 Remastered introduces a load of new changes that fans have requested for years, with many of these that were previously available as mods. Now fully integrated into the base game, the new changes for The Witcher 3 set the game up for its next expansion, Songs of the Past, which will be released in 2027.
In our hands-on impressions of the remaster on Nintendo Switch 2, we said that it is “easily the best way to play through this masterpiece.” Here are all the changes that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered makes to the game, as well as some information on how to upgrade to the remaster.
How to Upgrade to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered is a free upgrade for any owners of the original game on PC (via Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. On PC, the upgrade will be automatically applied to your own copy of the game in your library. If you currently have The Witcher 3 installed on your computer, you’ll be prompted to download a patch which applies the update.
This patch also includes Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine for free if you didn’t own them previously, as both expansions have been made free as part of the upgrade. Meanwhile, on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, the remaster is available to pick up from the PlayStation Store and Xbox Store for free. This is also the case for The Witcher 3 on Nintendo Switch, if you own it there. Both expansions are also available to download for free and are automatically included with the remastered version of the game as well. If you have a copy of the game on disc or cartridge, you simply need to insert it into your console, and you’ll be able to download the remaster and expansions for free.
Visual and Rendering Improvements
The remaster brings a comprehensive visual overhaul to the decade-old RPG. CD Projekt Red has implemented an improved shading model, updated multiple textures and models based on assets from The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project, and improved lighting and shading for grass and foliage. The visual effects of Signs, including their upgrade versions, have been updated, and new visual effects for skills have been added.
The game now features native DirectX 12 rendering with multithreading for better performance and visuals. Tone mapping has been updated for improved colors, lighting, contrast, and detail. New additions include GTAO (Ground Truth Ambient Occlusion) as a new Screen Space Ambient Occlusion option, Ray-Traced Local Shadows, and updated Screen Space Reflections and Screen Space Shadows. The HDR calibration panel has been updated with new options, Motion Blur has been improved with a higher-quality, more cinematic look, and Subsurface Scattering has been updated for more natural skin rendering. Terrain and material rendering have been improved for more natural lighting, shadows, reflections, and highlights, and new Image-Based Lighting (IBL) has been implemented for improved ambient lighting and reflections across different environments.
Gameplay Changes
One of the most significant gameplay changes is the reworked skill system. Skills are now organized into a skill tree and each skill has three ranks. Unlocking new skills now requires having the necessary prerequisite skills rather than spending a set number of skill points. Importantly, as a result of these changes, your skill points have been reset. The skill tree has been rebalanced by refining skill bonus values, effects, and synergies, and some skills have been renamed to better reflect their effects.
A new Reforging system has been added, allowing you to change your equipment’s appearance without affecting its stats. Only master craftsmen (Yoana and Hattori) offer this service. You can unlock appearances by adding new equipment and crafting diagrams to your inventory, and dyes from Blood and Wine applied to equipment will carry over to the reforged item.
Combat behavior for many non-boss monsters has been polished, including their attack patterns, counterattacks, movement, reactions, flight, and the application of effects. A new “Horse control input sensitivity” slider has been added in Settings → Controls. Roach’s and Geralt’s movement, player control, and animations have been improved, including refined jumping animations, new finisher and idle animations, improved ledge climbing, ladder climbing, and vaulting animations, and smoother gap-closing animations in combat. A new exploration camera with increased FOV and a new dynamic combat camera have also been added.
UI/UX and Quality of Life Improvements
Meditation now features a timelapse instead of a UI screen for a more immersive feel. The skill screen is now reorganized into a more intuitive skill tree layout. The map screen has been updated to make switching between tracked quests easier, and untracked quests now have a distinct marker and can be tracked by selecting them. The maximum number of markers on the map has been increased, and new map markers have been added.
You can now hide herbs, boats, and corpses on the minimap in Settings → Video → Interface for a cleaner, less distracting view. Quest notifications have been improved by combining quest updates into a single HUD notification. Nearby loot can now be grouped into a single window, and a loot feed displays recently collected items on the left side of the screen. Item tooltips have been added to the loot window, allowing you to preview an item’s details before picking it up.
A new option allows you to quickly disengage from combat by holding the dodge button to unlock from your target, then pressing the sprint button to run away. You can now collect loot without dismounting Roach.
Photo Mode Overhaul
The Photo Mode has received a massive expansion. You can now choose from multiple different characters to place in your shot, add a selection of poses and expressions for Geralt and placeable characters, lock the camera position, apply different environment presets, save camera presets, change the aspect ratio, toggle a first-person camera mode, enable or disable camera collisions, change the weather and time of day, adjust the intensity of weather effects, toggle Rule of Thirds lines, view camera coordinates, hide surrounding NPCs, and place props. A confirmation prompt before exiting Photo Mode has also been added to help prevent accidental exits.
Accessibility Options
A new Accessibility section has been added to the Settings menu. The Bard’s Ballad preset is designed to reduce cognitive load for players who experience mental fatigue or have difficulty concentrating. It streamlines gameplay by simplifying certain mechanics and disabling select features. You can customize it by enabling or disabling options like Vitality Regeneration Boost, Infinite Breath, Unlimited Item Durability, Unlimited Boat Durability, Ignore Item Weight, Faster Boats, and Toggle Witcher Sense.
Cross-Platform Mod Support
A major addition is Cross Platform Mod Support, an in-game tool powered by mod.io that allows you to easily browse and install player-created mods to customize your game. You can find it in the game’s main menu in Mods. Log in with your CD PROJEKT RED Account, connect it to mod.io, and start browsing.
Also, Read
- The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past Could Be the Perfect Send-Off for Geralt
- The Witcher 4 Confirmed for Physical Release — But There May Not Be a Disc Inside
- The Witcher 3 Confirms Free Remaster as DLC Songs of the Past Drops First Trailer
PC-Specific Features
On PC, the remaster adds support for Path Tracing, NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 with Ray Reconstruction, AMD FSR 4 including Frame Generation and Anti-Lag 2, Intel XeSS 2.0 with Frame Generation and Low Latency, and Ray-Traced HairWorks for improved lighting and shading on hair. DualSense controller haptic feedback is also supported.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered is available now as a free upgrade for all existing owners. The Songs of the Past expansion arrives in 2027.