Geralt of Rivia is heading back to the Path. More than a decade after The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt first sent players across the Continent, CD Projekt Red is giving its celebrated RPG another substantial overhaul with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered.
This is much more than a sharper-textures patch. The upgrade touches almost every part of the game, from the way Geralt closes the distance in a sword fight to how quests appear on the map. It also brings official mod support to consoles, rebuilds character progression and folds both existing expansions into the base package. Better still, most returning players will not have to buy the game again.
From The Witcher 3 Remastered release date and free upgrade details to the biggest gameplay changes, PC requirements, mods and save compatibility, here is everything you need to know before Geralt saddles up once again.
Remastered is the new definitive edition of The Witcher 3. It keeps the original story, world and quests, while modernising the technology and many of the systems around them. CD Projekt Red is co-developing the upgrade with Yigsoft, which previously worked on The Witcher 3 REDkit and post-launch updates for Cyberpunk 2077.
It is best understood as a sweeping upgrade to the existing game rather than a remake. You are still searching for Ciri, dealing with the Wild Hunt and making difficult choices across Velen, Novigrad and Skellige. The difference is that the journey should look better, respond more smoothly and offer far more control over how Geralt plays.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered launches on 29 September 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2. The PC release will be available through Steam, GOG, the Epic Games Store and, for the first time, Battle.net.
CD Projekt Red says anyone who previously bought a physical or digital copy can upgrade for free within the same platform ecosystem. On PC, the publisher specifically lists existing owners on Steam, GOG and the Epic Games Store. Original Nintendo Switch owners can also claim the native Switch 2 version at no extra cost. The Remastered build itself is limited to PC and current-generation consoles; PlayStation 4 and Xbox One still receive free access to Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, but not the new Remastered version on those machines.
New players receive the Complete Edition as the standard package. The old standalone expansions have been delisted, and both are now built into the base game. Exact download sizes may differ by platform, so check your storefront and clear some space before launch. Nobody wants a return to the Path held up by a full drive.
The remaster updates environment, character and monster assets, including work based on the acclaimed Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project. Lighting and materials have also been rebuilt, with improved foliage shading, new image-based lighting, revised tone mapping, better skin rendering and more convincing reflections, shadows and highlights.
Ray tracing receives another pass, while PC players gain path tracing alongside NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 with Ray Reconstruction, AMD FSR 4 with Frame Generation and Anti-Lag 2, and Intel XeSS 2.0. The game now uses native DirectX 12 rendering with multithreading, and CD Projekt Red has added improved HDR calibration, Ray-Traced HairWorks and a new ambient occlusion option.
These are meaningful technical changes, but they are only part of the remaster. The largest differences may be the ones you feel through the controller rather than spot in a screenshot.
Combat now uses revised animations and an adaptive camera. Geralt closes gaps more fluidly, target switching has been improved, and new finishers add some suitably brutal punctuation to a successful hunt. Witcher Signs also receive new effects, including their upgraded forms.
CD Projekt Red has polished the behaviour of every non-boss monster, covering attack patterns, counters, movement, reactions and flying behaviour. That should make familiar contracts less predictable for returning players without replacing the foundations of the original combat system.
Traversal gets attention too. Geralt climbs ledges and ladders more quickly, vaults more smoothly and has refreshed jumping and idle animations. Roach has revised movement and mounting animations, a new sensitivity setting, and canter and gallop now work with a button press instead of requiring players to hold the input. You can finally scoop up loot without leaving the saddle.
Character progression is one of the most fundamental changes. Skills now sit in a true prerequisite-based tree, each with three ranks. Existing bonuses, effects and synergies have been rebalanced, while several skills have been renamed so their purpose is clearer.
Because the structure has changed, the update refunds your skill points and resets your skills. You can reallocate those points immediately, but returning to a late-game save will still mean taking a few minutes to rebuild Geralt before heading into battle. Settings are reset as well, so check your controls, display options and accessibility preferences after installing the update.
The new Reforge system is The Witcher 3’s take on transmogrification. Once an equipment appearance has been unlocked by collecting the item or its crafting diagram, master craftsmen Yoana and Hattori can apply that look without changing the item’s statistics. Blood and Wine dyes remain visible on reforged equipment.
Several interface changes should remove small but persistent annoyances. The map makes it easier to switch tracked quests; untracked quests receive their own marker, and players can hide herbs, boats and corpses from the minimap. Nearby loot can be grouped into one window, item details appear before pickup, and a new optional feed shows recently collected items. Meditation now plays out as an in-world time-lapse rather than a separate interface screen.
There is also a quick way to disengage from combat, streamlined tutorials and tidier quest notifications. None of these features rewrites the adventure, but together they address a fair amount of friction that has accumulated since 2015.
Photo mode is far more capable. You can place multiple characters and props, choose poses and expressions, direct a character’s gaze, position lights, change the weather and time of day, save camera presets and capture different aspect ratios. A first-person camera, environment presets, and optional cinematic framing turn it into a much more complete screenshot tool.
A dedicated Accessibility menu now gathers relevant settings in one place. The new Bard’s Ballad preset is designed to reduce cognitive load and can be enabled at the start on Just the Story difficulty or activated later. Its individual options include vitality regeneration, infinite breath, unlimited item and boat durability, no carry-weight limit, faster boats and a toggle for Witcher Senses. Ukrainian text localisation is included too.
Remastered adds an in-game mod browser powered by mod.io on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. After linking a CD Projekt Red account with mod.io, players can browse and install supported community creations from the main menu. The service is free for owners of the game.
PC modders still create and upload content, including projects made with the official REDkit. Existing PC services such as Nexus Mods remain available, but console players need mod.io. Platform rules mean some PC mods will not be approved for consoles, and any console mod that uses scripts must be made with REDkit. Switch 2 is not included in CD Projekt Red’s cross-platform mod support list.
As with any major update, older PC mods may need patches from their creators. Players with a heavily modded installation should check compatibility before loading an important save. Geralt can handle a leshen; a broken load order is another matter entirely.
You do not need to abandon a hundred-hour playthrough. CD Projekt Red says current save files remain compatible, and cross-progression continues to work. Achievements and trophies are shared with the current version, so anything already unlocked stays unlocked.
The important exception is your build: skills and settings reset because of the new progression system. Make a manual save before updating, then take a screenshot of your current build and control settings if you want a reference when recreating them.
PC players should check their hardware before the update arrives. The new minimum specification targets 60fps at minimum settings and requires an AMD Ryzen 5 2600 or Intel Core i5-8400, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB, 6GB of VRAM, 12GB of system memory and 70GB on an SSD.
Windows 11 64-bit and DirectX 12 are now the supported baseline. CD Projekt Red says the game may continue to run on Windows 10, but that operating system is no longer tested or officially supported. Hard drives are also outside the supported specifications. Players who cannot run the remaster can revert to version 4.04 or the older 1.32 Classic branch where their storefront supports it.
Install the latest graphics driver before launch, particularly if you plan to use the new upscaling, frame-generation or path-tracing options.
PlayStation 5 Pro receives dedicated support, while Xbox gains Play Anywhere for compatible console, PC and handheld play. The PC version also adds DualSense haptic feedback, and PlayStation 5 benefits from multithreaded rendering.
Nintendo Switch 2 gets a native version with several platform-specific controls. Motion inputs can cast Signs, use consumables, call or control Roach, fire the crossbow and throw bombs. Gyro aiming, mouse controls, touch input across menus, dialogue, the map, Gwent and photo mode, Joy-Con 2 HD Rumble, VRR and HDR support are all confirmed.
Every owner of The Witcher 3 now receives Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine at no extra cost, even if they previously owned only the base game. Updating to the latest version adds the expansions on supported systems, while PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players can download them separately for free. Existing expansion saves, standalone starts and associated achievements remain intact.
For anyone returning after the main story, this makes the remaster an enormous package. Hearts of Stone offers a tightly focused tale built around the enigmatic Gaunter O’Dimm, while Blood and Wine adds the large region of Toussaint and a fitting conclusion to Geralt’s original journey.
The newly announced Songs of the Past is not part of the free remaster. It is a paid third expansion planned for 2027 on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2.
The story takes Geralt and Dandelion to Letten, the bard’s seemingly peaceful homeland, where a buried threat demands a witcher’s attention. CD Projekt Red and Fool’s Theory are developing the expansion together, with new monsters, mutagens, and a chain weapon already confirmed. Remastered lays the technical foundation, but players will need to buy Songs of the Past separately when it launches.
With the launch only a day away, waiting makes sense for a new playthrough. Existing saves will carry across, so anyone already deep into the story can continue, but the redesigned skill tree and reset settings make the update a natural point to pause and take stock of a build.
For returning players, the combination of reworked combat, console mods, transmog and numerous interface improvements should make the Continent feel noticeably different without discarding the game they remember. For newcomers, the free inclusion of both expansions makes this the most complete starting point for Geralt’s adventure. Just remember to pack enough Swallow and try not to get distracted by Gwent for the next hundred hours.
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