The Witcher 3 Remastered

0:13 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered came out on Sep 29, 2026 as a free upgrade for everyone who owns The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on GOG, Steam, the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S, and on Nintendo Switch 2 for owners of the original Switch version. It unlocked worldwide at 12 p.m. CEST (3 a.m. PDT, 10:00 UTC), with both expansions included. CD Projekt Red's launch trailer frames it in its own cards, "The RPG that defined a generation", now remastered for a new one, then shows remastered gameplay and visuals, with a griffin over a meadow, the new systems and technology, and the acclaimed expansions. The upgrade reworks combat and enemy behavior, replaces the ability tree, adds transmog under the name Reforge, cross-platform mods, an expanded photo mode and a new lighting model, and was "developed in close collaboration with the team at Yigsoft", a Hungarian studio that had worked on the game before. The game itself is covered on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Quick facts

Announcement and release

1:10 CD Projekt Red announced Remastered on Aug 25, 2026 at gamescom Opening Night Live in Cologne, with a release date five weeks away. The announcement trailer's closing cards show that Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine are included and promise a "Free upgrade for all The Witcher 3 owners". The same evening, host Geoff Keighley announced on stage that every owner of the game would get both expansions free from that day, and CD Projekt Red and Blizzard announced that Remastered and the coming expansion Songs of the Past would also be sold on Battle.net. Songs of the Past itself had been announced on May 27, 2026, for 2027, and showed its first footage at the same show.

CD Projekt Red published the full patch notes on Sep 28, the day before launch, and reviews went up the same day. Remastered replaced the Complete Edition in the stores on every supported platform: Steam, GOG, the PlayStation Store and the Microsoft Store now sell the game under the Remastered name, and the old standalone expansions were delisted, though owners keep them (Platforms and editions).

Combat

1:17 Combat is the biggest change. IGN's list of the ten biggest changes calls the original's swordplay floaty and says it has been fully reworked with revamped animations, brutal finishers and an adaptive camera; attacks are quicker and dodging smoother, so enemy behavior was reworked to keep up, and even fights with wolves and drowners feel faster and more violent. CD Projekt Red's notes list new attack patterns, counterattacks, movement, reactions and flight for many non-boss monsters, new finisher animations, improved gap-closing, a dynamic combat camera that adapts to the number of enemies, better switching of the locked target, and a new way out of a fight: hold dodge, then sprint (Combat, Monsters).

0:24 A new setting changes how Geralt picks his target. ColorsFade Gaming's video of Oct 4, 2026 shows a "Combat style" option under Settings, Gameplay, set to Modern by default: Modern is free-form with no soft lock-on, so Geralt swings where the player aims, while Standard keeps the old soft lock-on to the nearest enemy, which he says explains why players new to Remastered miss more attacks and bombs. CD Projekt Red's patch notes, as read on Oct 14, 2026, do not name this setting, so it is reported here as shown in that video.

Ability tree

4:38 The skill system was redesigned. IGN's review update says the revised trees take a page from Cyberpunk 2077 by making strong skills available earlier: instead of investing a whole 12 points in a branch before unlocking good skills, a player who has bought the skills along a route can move down it. In CD Projekt Red's words, skills are now organized into a tree with three ranks each, unlocked by owning their prerequisite skills rather than by a point total; bonus values, effects and synergies were rebalanced and some skills renamed. Because of this, every player's skill points were reset when the update installed, so existing characters spend them again (Ability tree, Best builds).

Transmog (Reforge)

0:26 Transmog arrived under the name Reforge. IGN's guide explains that reforging changes the look of armor and weapons while keeping their stats, and that only two master craftsmen offer it: Yoana at Crow's Perch in Velen for armor, after the level 24 quest "Master Armorers", and Hattori in Novigrad for weapons, after "Of Swords and Dumplings". A look can only be chosen from items Geralt has already obtained (CD Projekt Red adds: or holds the diagrams for), and Blood and Wine's armor dyes carry over (Transmog, Witcher gear sets).

Movement, Roach and the interface

4:05 Getting around is quicker. IGN's reviewer found Roach much less likely to catch on trees or end up on a barn roof, and called looting herbs without dismounting maybe the single best improvement of the remaster. CD Projekt Red's notes add improved mounting, cantering and galloping (now a press instead of a hold), collision avoidance and a horse sensitivity slider, and for Geralt new jump, idle, ledge, ladder and vaulting animations with a wider exploration camera; jump distance and height are unchanged.

The interface was reworked too. Meditation is now a timelapse rather than a menu screen, quest updates merge into one notification, nearby loot can be grouped in one window with a loot feed, the map can switch quests and marks untracked ones differently, and the tutorials were streamlined. Signs and their upgraded versions got new visual effects, and photo mode, first added in 2022, gained placeable characters and props, poses and expressions, weather and time of day, a first-person camera and more (Signs, Beginner's guide).

Accessibility and mods

1:56 Two additions open the game to more players. The "Bard's Ballad" accessibility preset, IGN explains, is not a difficulty mode but a set of assists, offered when starting a new save and switchable at any time under Settings, Accessibility; CD Projekt Red lists vitality regeneration, infinite breath, no item or boat durability loss, ignoring item weight, faster boats and a toggle for Witcher Senses. Cross-platform mod support through mod.io brings the same mods to PC, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 (a CD Projekt Red account is needed), while PC players can still use other mod sites; on Switch 2, mods follow Nintendo's guidelines, Yigsoft's Moritz said at gamescom. PC Gamer counted more than 450 mods updated for Remastered within two days of launch.

Console mods are not limited to small tweaks. On Oct 23, 2026 TheGamer reported that CD Projekt Red had approved Tales of the Witcher, a fan-made expansion set in Cintra, for PlayStation 5: about five hours of play with 12 new quests, the village of Hilden and an economy overhaul, made "single-handedly" with REDkit by GerwantTOTW. It has no voice acting (the story is told in subtitles) and runs apart from the main story, so base-game saves are hidden while it is installed and come back when it is removed. Players link a CD Projekt Red account, search "Cintra" in the in-game mod menu or on mod.io, then pick Tales of the Witcher under New Game.

Graphics and platforms

3:27 The lighting is new everywhere. IGN describes a modernized lighting engine, improved environment textures, more realistic people, clearer reflections and crisper shadows, and on PC Nvidia DLSS 4.5, AMD FSR 4 and Intel XeSS 2.0 with ray reconstruction and path tracing, which it warns is demanding. CD Projekt Red's list adds an improved shading model, textures and models updated with assets from The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project, new tone mapping, ray-traced local shadows, native DirectX 12 with multithreading, ray-traced HairWorks and DualSense haptics on PC.

Each console has its own features. On PlayStation 5, the base console offers a Ray Tracing mode at 30 fps or a Performance mode at 60 fps, and the PS5 Pro, with PSSR upscaling, a Ray Tracing mode at 60 fps or Performance at up to 90 fps with VRR. On Xbox, Play Anywhere shares one purchase, saves and achievements between Xbox and Windows. On Switch 2 the game adds motion controls, gyro aiming, a mouse mode and touch controls (Nintendo Switch 2 version, PC system requirements).

Who gets it free

Remastered is free "within the same platform ecosystem": anyone who bought any version of the game, physical or digital, on GOG, Steam, the Epic Games Store, PlayStation or Xbox gets it on that store's current platform, and anyone who owns the game on the original Nintendo Switch gets the Switch 2 version. Battle.net and the Microsoft Store's Xbox Play Anywhere version sell it as a new purchase, not an upgrade. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions do not become Remastered: on those consoles nothing changes except that both expansions are free. Whether a PS4 or Xbox One disc owner can claim the PS5 or Series X|S version free is not settled: CD Projekt Red speaks only of the same platform ecosystem, and Sony's page says the upgrade "does not apply to the PlayStation 4 version", as of Oct 14, 2026.

Saves remain compatible and cross-progression keeps working. PC players who prefer the old game can still launch the "Classic (1.32)" version; a bug that blocked it was fixed in hotfix 5.00c on Oct 1, 2026.

Patches since launch

CD Projekt Red has released five updates. Patch 5.00b (Oct 1, 2026) for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and the Xbox Play Anywhere PC version restored DLSS on that PC version and brightened interiors that were too dark; hotfix 5.00c (Oct 1) fixed saving on PC when the Documents path holds special characters, quiet voiceover and the Classic launch; and patch 5.01 (Oct 8) fixed blade oils, runaway boats and the Synergy skill, turned Dynamic Resolution Scaling off by default on PC, added Bloom, Light Shafts and Depth of Field options on consoles and fixed frame-rate limits on the base PS5; hotfix 5.01b brought unspecified stability improvements to PlayStation 5 on Oct 13 and, on Oct 15, replaced TAAU upscaling with AMD's FSR on Xbox Series S, which players had found blurry. CD Projekt Red said the same day that a Switch 2 update for closer parity and sharper image quality is in the works, without a date (Patch notes).

Reception

6:48 Critics praised it. IGN's verdict is that Remastered's greatest asset is not anything new but that it removes the biggest roadblocks to fun of the original: combat is more challenging but easier to enjoy, movement is quicker and less irritating, and the revised skill trees allow more freedom, even if some technical issues remain. On Oct 14, 2026 OpenCritic showed a Top Critic Average of 91 with all 25 critics recommending it, including Push Square's 10 out of 10 and Nintendo Life's 9; Metacritic listed 92 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 and 94 on Xbox Series X. Reviews agreed that performance was the main weakness, VGC noting frame-rate instability in the PS5 ray-tracing mode (Reception and awards).

Players returned in numbers. On Steam the game peaked at 120,975 concurrent players on launch day, Sep 29, 2026, and at a new all-time high of 137,724 on Oct 4, 2026, per SteamDB figures reported by GAMES.GG and Inven Global; its peak in August 2026 had been just over 30,000, PC Gamer noted.

Frequently asked questions

Is The Witcher 3 Remastered free? Yes, for owners. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered is a free upgrade on GOG, Steam, the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S for anyone who owns the game there, and on Switch 2 for owners of the original Switch version; others pay $49.99, or $59.99 on Switch 2 (Oct 14, 2026).

When did The Witcher 3 Remastered come out? The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered came out on Sep 29, 2026 at 12 p.m. CEST (3 a.m. PDT, 10:00 UTC), on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2.

Do old saves work in The Witcher 3 Remastered? Yes. Saves from earlier versions of The Witcher 3 remain compatible, but skill points are reset so that they can be spent on the new ability tree.

Is The Witcher 3 Remastered on PS4 or Xbox One? No. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of The Witcher 3 are not remastered; on those consoles only the free Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine changed.

Can I still play the original version of The Witcher 3? On PC, yes: The Witcher 3 can still be launched in its "Classic (1.32)" version alongside Remastered.

Does The Witcher 3 Remastered support mods? Yes. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered has in-game cross-platform mod support through mod.io on PC and consoles, and PC players can keep using other mod sites and the REDkit editor.

Can you play the Cintra mod on PS5? Yes. The fan-made Tales of the Witcher expansion, set in Cintra with about five hours of play and 12 quests, was approved for The Witcher 3 Remastered on PlayStation 5, TheGamer reported on Oct 23, 2026; it installs from the in-game mod menu with a CD Projekt Red account and starts from New Game.

Who made The Witcher 3 Remastered? CD Projekt Red, in close collaboration with the Hungarian studio Yigsoft. Fool's Theory, often named in error, is CD Projekt Red's partner on the Songs of the Past expansion, not on Remastered.

Sources

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered available now, CD Projekt Red, Sep 29, 2026
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered announced, Songs of the Past gets first look, CD Projekt Red, Aug 25, 2026
• See what's new in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered, CD Projekt Red, Sep 28, 2026
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, CD Projekt Red, read Oct 14, 2026
• Patch 5.00b for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered is now live, CD Projekt Red, Oct 1, 2026
• Hotfix 5.00c out now for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered on PC, CD Projekt Red, Oct 1, 2026
• Patch 5.01 for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered is live, CD Projekt Red, Oct 8, 2026
• The Witcher 3 Remastered Hotfix 5.01b Released on PS5 as 5.000.500, MP1st, Oct 13, 2026
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered and Songs of the Past, Xbox Wire, Aug 25, 2026
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, PlayStation, read Oct 14, 2026
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on Steam, Valve, read Oct 14, 2026; the Microsoft Store and the Nintendo eShop, read Oct 14, 2026
• The Witcher 3 Remastered unlock times unveiled, OC3D, Sep 24, 2026
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered, OpenCritic, read Oct 14, 2026, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, Metacritic, read Oct 14, 2026
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered review roundup, GameDaily, Oct 7, 2026
• Witcher 3 Remastered sets a Steam record, GAMES.GG, Oct 5, 2026
• Powered by remaster, The Witcher 3 sets new all-time peak concurrent player record on Steam, Inven Global, Oct 2026
• The Witcher 3's remaster just brought it to a new all-time concurrent player count peak, PC Gamer, Oct 3, 2026
• The Witcher 3 PS5 Players Can Now Visit Cintra, With 5 Hours Of New Content, TheGamer, Oct 23, 2026
• The Witcher, PC Gamer (Wes Fenlon on mods updated for Remastered), Oct 1, 2026
• The Witcher 3's Switch 2 port ushers in a new era with unprecedented mod support, Pocket Tactics, Aug 28, 2026
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered | Official Launch Trailer, The Witcher, Sep 29, 2026 (video)
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered | Official Announcement Trailer, The Witcher, Aug 25, 2026 (video)
• 10 BIGGEST Changes in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, IGN, Sep 30, 2026 (video)
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered Review Update, IGN, Oct 2, 2026 (video)
• Witcher 3 Combat Changes (Standard vs. Modern), ColorsFade Gaming, Oct 4, 2026 (video)
• The Witcher 3 Remastered: How to Transmog Armor and Weapons, IGN, Sep 30, 2026 (video)