When you boot up The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered for the first time, you’ll see a few new items on the menu: Combat Training, Mods, Patch Highlights, and–depending on the platform–Console Features.
Patch Highlights is exactly that. Judging by the trailer developer CD Projekt Red released last month, there are dozens of new additions and changes, but here are the highlights as listed in the menu:
- Upgraded visuals and performance: Everything from NPCs you’ll meet on your journey to the bushes along the side of the road has received a facelift. Additionally, the lighting has been reworked to be more realistic, and path tracing has been added to the PC version. If you want to see how the visuals stack up to the 2022 update, we have a graphics comparison you can watch.
- Reimagined skill system: CD Projekt Red has taken a pass at the skill system in order to bring more refined progression with greater flexibility.
- Expanded photo mode: Photo mode has been overhauled to include more settings, poses, frames, and filters. You can also place other character models in the frame.
- Improved combat: CD Projekt Red has touched up the combat by adding more finishers and tweaking the dynamic camera.
- Transmog: Now you can wear whatever you want and retain the stats from your best equipment. Finally, Geralt’s iconic fit can be used for the entire game without penalty.
In addition to the changes highlighted, other standout features include expanded mod support (even on Nintendo Switch 2) and a revamped meditation mechanic that shows time passing in real time instead of fading to black.
From the main menu, you can now replay the combat tutorial. This skips the opening cutscenes and puts you right in front of Vesemir to begin practicing. Since The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt already allowed for cross-saving and old saves transfer, this will undoubtedly be handy for those looking to pick up where they left off.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered also defaults to a new camera while exploring. It’s a bit wider than the previous camera angle, but if you prefer the original camera from the 2015 version or the closer camera from the 2022 next-gen update, you can change it in the menu.
If you’re playing on the Nintendo Switch 2, the remastered version introduces mouse and motion controls. Motion controls can be used to adjust the camera and perform specific actions. Meanwhile, mouse controls can be used to navigate the map and your inventory.
Here’s a list of new features that were pulled directly from CD Projekt Red’s trailer:
- Upgraded visuals
- Enhanced combat
- Improved traversal and movement
- Revamped mount handling
- Improved monster behaviors
- Revamped skill tree
- Transmogrification
- Expanded photo mode
- New combat finishers
- Cross-platform mods
- Immersive meditation
- Refined animations
- New quest tracking
- UI improvements
- Looting rework
- Refreshed motion blur
- New accessibility features
- Updated textures
- Foliage shading rework
- Tutorial modernization
- HDR improvements
- GTAO (ground truth ambient occlusion, not Grand Theft Auto Online)
- Improved menu navigation
- Ray tracing improvements
- Global lighting rework
- New shading model
- Subsurface scattering
- New tone mapper
- PlayStation 5 Pro support
- Xbox Play Anywhere support
- Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive features
- Nvidia DLSS 4.5
- AMD FSR 4
- Intel XESS 2.0
- Path tracing on PC
- Ray reconstruction on PC
- Ray traced hair
- Native DX12
- Rendering parallelization
The remaster is free for all owners of The Witcher 3, regardless of platform, and packs in both expansions at no cost. If, somehow, you don’t own The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, it’s 50% on Steam and the PlayStation Store. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt received a coveted 10/10 from GameSpot’s Kevin VanOrd in 2015, and is still widely considered one of the best RPGs of all time.
