CD PROJEKT RED has announced that its next-gen update for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will be released for the PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on December 14, 2022.
Available at no cost to those who already own any version of the critically acclaimed RPG, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s next-gen update features “dozens of visual, performance and technical enhancements, including ray tracing support, faster loading times on consoles, a variety of mods integrated into the experience,” and much more, including DLCs inspired by Netflix’s The Witcher series.
Those who don’t own The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt yet have the option of getting the new Complete Edition, which will be available for purchase digitally on PC and next-gen consoles, with a physical release at a later date.
The last-gen versions of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (i.e., PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch) are also getting an update with “numerous additions and improvements,” including the aforementioned Netflix Witcher-themed DLCs.
The next-gen update for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is coming on December 14th, free for everyone who already owns the game.
— The Witcher (@witchergame) November 14, 2022
For more details and gameplay reveal, tune in to REDstreams next week on https://t.co/IpFERTohi9. pic.twitter.com/fg3yfGeNih
From the official Witcher page:
Enhanced with the power of next-gen consoles and modern PC hardware in mind, the upcoming update will feature dozens of visual, performance and technical enhancements, including ray tracing support, faster loading times on consoles, a variety of mods integrated into the experience, and much more! On top of that, we’re adding a set of DLCs inspired by Netflix’s The Witcher series, such as new weapons and armor for Geralt and alternative looks for select characters.
The next-gen update is free for everyone who already owns any version of the game. For those who don’t have the game yet, a dedicated next-gen version, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition, featuring all enhancements, free DLCs and story expansions: Hearts of Stone & Blood and Wine, will be available for purchase digitally on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, with a physical release at a later date.
In addition to the next-gen release, the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch versions of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will also receive an update featuring numerous additions and improvements, as well as the Netflix Witcher-themed DLCs. Further details, including the release date, will be announced soon.
Discussion (8 replies)
Join Discussion →Here's hoping it doesn't launch as a bug-ridden mess. I'm really looking forward to this. I've also heard that the famed modder for The Witcher 3, Halk Hogan, was brought on to help with this project. His mod packs are well known as some of the best and it's said some of his work from them will be included. I used several which inspired numerous replays but I stopped after my last one around 2020-2021.
I went through the main game and both expansions in 2015 and 2016. I didn't use any mods. Since I stopped paying attention to the game after I went through it, I actually don't know any of the popular mods for the game. Interesting that CDPR is still updating and fixing stuff in the game, and now they're even gonna incorporate some mods right into the game. Man talk about long-term support for a game. A single-player game at that. Even adding features like ray-tracing.
I think the main inspiration came from renewed interest from the Netflix show but also the new consoles. If not for those, I doubt they'd be doing this or the similar re-do of the first game.
I somewhat regularly check in with DSOG and John P. often posts stories about mods and more recently, 8K, for it. There are some really impressive things out there but I'm not, for any game, in the mood to patch in a bunch of stuff. Halk's stuff was one nice clean pack and you could install over previous versions and it would update as needed. Simple as downloading and a few steps to install. They really did take the game to another level though.
Maybe I'll finally play it? Nah - there is no amount of next gen that would make me dislike geralt less.
I like the support, but I'm sure there have been a couple checks from Nvidia to entice them to add ray tracing.
I liked the game well enough, story, setting, graphics all great, gameplay though was lacking, not enough to make me stop playing, but enough for me to keep in on pretty easy settings.
Not sure I want to replay in another time, I also found the blood and wine expac pretty lackluster, it looked great but it seemed I was way underleveled and geared for it even after completing the main game and the plot was pretty unoriginal.
I enjoyed Blood and Wine but do see what you mean. I liked it because, after the first two games, plus all the time spent in Velen for all the side missions, I really wanted to see an area that hadn't been devastated by war yet. My only real gripe with it is that I would've liked a lot more story with Regis, and quite a few others, instead of the main protagonists (the sisters). Regis has a story that began in the 1st game and if you do a playthrough of all three using their game saves it does add a little but still leaves a lot of room to explore.
Combat has always been clumsy in the Witcher games, especially the sequels. That's especially true when fighting groups of enemies. The combat system doesn't offer much in the way of precision; you just have to hope that the character does what you want him (or in the case of Ciri, her) to do. Armor has a huge effect on combat difficulty. If memory serves, the best armor in the game against human enemies is the Skellige (Undvik) set, and the Bear school (Ursine) armor offers the best protection against monsters. As a completionist, I found it difficult not to become too overleveled. I wasn't terribly fond of how they implemented level scaling.
I thought Blood and Wine was amazing, especially some optional paths in the story. Hearts of Stone, on the other hand, wasn't nearly as enjoyable, except for the few events that were connected to a certain character from the first Witcher. Of course, this is all a matter of personal taste.
I'm guessing you're already aware of what follows, but I wanted to add that it's also possible to set various flags in the developer console mode (or whatever it's called) to achieve the same result as importing game saves. The dialogue from the scene during Imperial Audience doesn't cover many of the "minor" choices from the earlier games, some of which can subtly flavor the dialogue or even open up new quests.
Spoiler
Sparing Letho at the end of The Witcher 2
Choosing Shani (❤️) in the first Witcher
Saskia's fate (TW2)
Wow, I can't believe it's been over five years since I've played the game. I've probably invested more hours into The Witcher 3 than I care to admit, but I may have to do another playthrough after the update. None of the new games seem to interest me at all.