CD PROJEKT RED has released The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered, a new version of the 2015 game that has been overhauled with updated visuals and many other changes. Rather than just doing some touch-ups to its graphics, CDPR worked with legendary modder Halk Hogan once again to update many of the game’s visuals, but has also improved its combat system, reworked its skill system, added cross-platform mod support, support for PSSR on the PlayStation 5 Pro, and released a version for the Nintendo Switch 2. Pre-existing owners will receive the new version as a free update.
- Enhanced Visuals and Performance — Improved textures for the environment, NPCs, and monsters. Major enhancements to foliage and reworked lighting, rendering, and ray tracing.
- Path Tracing on PC — Combined with other visual enhancements of Remastered, Path Tracing creates the most visually stunning version of The Witcher 3 ever made.
- PS5 Pro Support — PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) enables a smooth 60 frames per second with ray tracing turned on, offering remarkable visuals. Performance mode offers up to 90 frames per second with VRR.
- Reimagined Skill System — Rebalanced abilities and skills with an overhauled skill tree modernize the character progression system, offering deeper flexibility and greater impact on playstyle.
- Improved Combat — Revamped animations, new finishers, and an adaptive camera make combat more adaptive, immersive, and kinetic.
- Overhauled Animations — New animations for Geralt and Roach bring additional dynamism to movement and traversal, with vaulting, ladder climbing, and more all updated to feel more fluid and realistic.
- Cross-Platform Mod Support — With Mod.io integration added to consoles, cross-platform mods now give players the opportunity to create and play a wealth of custom content. From new quests, weapons, and equipment to balance changes and more, mods help to create an entirely unique Witcher 3 experience.
- Refreshed User Interface — Updated menus provide quicker access to key features, while refreshed quest and tutorial notifications keep new information clear and concise.
- Nintendo Switch 2 Features — As part of the native Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game, motion controls allow players to aim the crossbow, throw bombs, cast witcher signs, drink potions, and speed up and slow down Roach. Gyro aiming brings extra precision in combat, and Mouse control also offers another way to play. Touch screen support helps with navigating the map and game menus, and can also be used to play Gwent.
CDPR has added the first two major DLC, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, to the base game so now everyone has the opportunity to play it as a definitive version. An extensive list of all the changes made for both the PC and console versions can be found here. Twitch users are also being given a unique opportunity to acquire a new gear set for Geralt’s trusty companion, Roach, in the form of the Fire Horse Gear Set.
Recommended PC requirements have been updated for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered, showing that those hoping to achieve 60 FPS at 4K while using path tracing with frame generation will need at least an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 and 24GB of system memory while using Ultra Settings. If you just want to use Ultra at 1440p, requirements drop quite a bit if not using path tracing while sticking to natively rendered frames, and folks can get by with an older RTX 3070 Ti there. Of course, one of the big reasons for this new version is getting fans amped for the upcoming DLC, Songs of the Past, which is said to launch in 2027 and then be followed by The Witcher 4 in 2028. For those who still can’t get enough of Geralt’s adventures, CDPR and Blizzard have partnered to bring the famed monster-slayer to Sanctuary.
Discussion (19 replies)
Join Discussion →Looks like this directly upgrades the complete edition copy I have in Steam instead of creating a new entry. I hope that whatever remastering has been done can be deactivated and players can play the game in either of it's prior states (the rerelease with DX12/RT we got a few years ago, or even the OG DX11 version).
So long as everything can be reverted, I say play ball.
I wasn't gonna bother to mess around with this until the new expansion comes out next year, but after reading the full update notes, I gotta say I'm kinda curious: https://www.thewitcher.com/au/en/news/52041/see-whats-new-in-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-remastered
For someone like me who went through the original game and both expansions long before the game even got the next-gen update (the previous major overhaul), reading about the changes in the remaster makes it seems like almost a whole new game. I'd have to start a new file and play everything all over again just to see and really appreciate all the changes. Good gawd man, CDPR never f*ck around, do they?
They could easily charge for this update since it looks non-trivial and must've taken considerable man hours. A sign that the company isn't inherently evil.
A sign that the company wants the good will of gamers for when they release an 100 dollar title.
They could also be smart enough to not make it annoying to figure out what version is what in the game launcher.
Huge fan of CDPR and I've easily put in around 1000 hours, combined for all 3 games but mostly this one plus another 100-200 for CP2077. However, still concerned over the stories regarding working conditions for CP2077 but don't know enough for sure to draw a real conclusion. Otherwise they've impressed time and again since my first introduction to them with the 2nd game which also happened to be my last store-bought physical game.
Agreed but at least the option is there in Steam. I still have to check GOG and see if the same is true. Maybe we'll get luckly and it'll arrive in an update after enough folks ask for it.
- While I would have preferred this remaster showing up as a completely separate entry in my Steam library (like many other remasters that have launched over the years), I appreciate that at least Steam provides a method to "roll back" to other versions.
Folks on console or other launchers might not be so lucky though.
Pretty sure they'll have to roll out an update for this. I tested it for a few minutes on my 5800X3D/5090 rig, cranked everything except post processing crap and even at 3440x1440 it was trying to hammer the 5090 for full power usage. I had MFG set to dynamic and things looked great, game maxes at 144 FPS which is where it reached no problem but even with my power limits it was using 400W and I'm sure would've gone much higher if not the power custom curve and 70% limit.
That being said, I tried limiting FPS to 70 as well and zero change in power draw. Now one thing to note, I haven't updated to the latest NV driver for this and that might make a difference and it's something I'll check on again later.
Ah. It makes perfect sense now. Nvidia is trying to kill 5090 cards in the field as much as it can so it can drive up their prices even more and then say, oops, we are pulling out of the consumer market coz consumers can't afford this shiny polished turd anymore!
GOG confirmed to offer different versions:
So updated driver and no change except that I mistakenly said I lowered FPS to 70 (this is what I do manually in a lot of other games), this one has 75 as one of the options and oddly enough, according to MSI AB, strangely limited to 60 FPS. It doesn't matter though since GPU still pegged at 98%+ and power still hitting 400W.
Well, hopefully they'll address this because neither of those metrics should exactly match when the game is rendering at 144 FPS and they do. I also for kicks tried it without my power limits and confirmed it instantly using over 575W, saw a spike to 592W and then I turned it off.
Gooood gaaawd. That's still a scary number whenever I see it. Especially for a card using a 12VHPWR/12V-2x6 connector. Man, with an RTX 5090 it's basically required that you undervolt that shiznit.
So that's in the Galaxy launcher? I saw someone on posted what it looks like on the website: https://hardforum.com/threads/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-official-thread.1766275/post-1046385785
Yeah, it is weird. For me, both on the GoG website under my account it shows two remastered icons. The same in the GoG Galaxy launcher. At least you can as shown above switch to Remaster, Next-Gen or Classic mode.
Under the one Remastered icon that I have installed it now shows the NExt-gen version as available for download in 4 parts under extras along with the classic. Checking the other icon in galaxy it has the next-gen offline installers too.
By the way, a must-have mod for anyone who truly wants to experience everything in the game. It has roughly 6,000 bug fixes and restored content, including dialogue, npcs, cutscenes, various items, and more. It's been around for a while and the author continually updates for each game version.
[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/11260?tab=description[/URL]