CD Projekt Red has announced a substantial free upgrade for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, scheduled for release on September 29. This remastered version promises a comprehensive overhaul of the acclaimed RPG, aiming to bring its visuals and gameplay in line with modern standards.
The upgrade includes a broad range of enhancements. Visually, players can expect updated textures, improved foliage shading, HDR improvements, and a global lighting rework, complemented by a new shading model and subsurface scattering. Technical advancements include ray tracing improvements, path tracing and ray reconstruction on PC, native DX12 support, and rendering parallelization. The update also incorporates NVIDIA DLSS 4.5, AMD FSR 4, and Intel XESS 2.0.
Gameplay mechanics have also been refined. The remaster introduces "enhanced combat" with new finisher animations and effects for Witcher signs, alongside "improved traversal and movement" featuring modified mantling and climbing. Monster behaviors are enhanced, and a new skill tree has been added. Players will also benefit from a reworked looting system, refined animations, improved menu navigation, and a modernization of the tutorial.
Further additions include cross-platform mod support, immersive meditation, a new quest tracking system, UI improvements, a refreshed motion blur effect, an expanded photo mode, and transmogrification, allowing players to apply the appearance of one item to another while retaining the original item's stats. The update also brings new accessibility features and an expanded photo mode.
Crucially, this extensive upgrade will be free for all existing owners of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Furthermore, players who do not currently own the game's two major expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, will be able to download them for free alongside the remastered base game. This makes the comprehensive experience accessible to a wider audience and provides a significant incentive for returning players to revisit the Continent.