The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered is a remaster of the original, critically acclaimed open world RPG developed by CD Projekt Red. Read our review to see what it does right, what it doesn't, and our overall thoughts on the remaster.
| Digital Storefronts | ||
|---|---|---|
 Steam |
 Playstation |
 Xbox |
 Switch 2 |
 Epic |
 GoG |
| $49.99 | ||
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered Review | The Dark, Twisted Fantasy Feels Brighter in Restraint
The Witcher 3 receiving a remaster should, in theory, be a disaster. It’s received graphical upgrades and quality-of-life updates before, sure, but historically games receiving unnecessary remasters can end up ruining once-praised works for modern-day corporatized sludge. The GTA Trilogy did this, as did the Silent Hill HD Collection. The fact that The Witcher 3 is already so accessible on modern platforms made the prospect of a remaster feel dubious if not done correctly.
Thankfully, The Witcher 3 Remastered justifies its own existence immediately, especially as a free upgrade for existing owners. To paraphrase The Beach Boys, it doesn’t screw with the formula; it simply addresses a few much-discussed pain points and throws a beautiful coat of paint on the whole thing. The result is a relatively subdued remaster that brings the Continent’s gorgeous grittiness to the forefront and makes exploring that world much more fun.
Not changing things up too much, while ultimately a good thing, also means that The Witcher 3 remains mostly the same game as it originally was. The combat is still clunky even with its improvements, while nonbelievers in this specific style of game won’t get swayed by the remaster. Some new, minor problems also arise, namely with the game’s performance. Still, its much-needed improvements make The Witcher 3 Remastered perhaps the best way to experience a staggering and monumental gaming classic.
Turn Up The Lights In Here, Geralt
The most obvious change with the Witcher 3’s remaster are the upgraded visuals, and, for the most part, they work incredibly well while not fundamentally changing anything. The Witcher 3 Remaster integrates a new, path tracing lighting engine and improved textures and model assets, from the community-run The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project no less. The result is a game that just plainly looks better, and if you’re revisiting Witcher 3 after a decade or so of being away from the game, it’s a fantastic jump in quality.
The reworked lighting system does a lot to make every area in the Continent look that much more lived-in. The sunsets and fields throughout Velen and Novigrad look absolutely stunning, while the colorful cities of Toussaint have an almost fantastical level of vibrancy to them. The texture work, meanwhile, offers diminishing returns on characters that already looked great, but the improvements are still significant on things like foliage, metal, and fabrics. The Witcher 3’s picturesque filth has never shone this vividly, and it makes revisiting the world so much more compelling.
It’s not a monumental leap forward, but it’s still one that The Witcher 3 benefits from as a whole. The only real issues that arise from here are the performance drops and texture pop-in, which are currently prevalent on a number of consoles. From my experience with the PC version, there are some frame drops and lag spikes (especially while saving) that, while not outright gamebreaking, simply weren’t there with the next gen edition. Granted, my PC isn’t the most powerful rig out there, but it’s apparently a problem that’s also plaguing the game on the base PS5.
A CDPR game launching with bugs and shoddy optimization is nothing new, but with a game as old as The Witcher 3 it’s somewhat surprising that these rough edges still haven’t been smoothed out. Given that The Witcher 3 Remastered’s biggest selling point for a lot of people will be the improved graphics, it’s an unfortunate caveat. Still, CDPR did what they set out to do here, and The Witcher 3 looks better than ever; it may just not run as well as it used to unless you’re taking the leap from the original Switch to the Switch 2 (more on that later).
The Continent Finally Feels Good To Explore
My biggest ask for The Witcher 3 remaster quite frankly, was an improvement to the game’s movement and combat. I’ve long labored over The Witcher 3’s subpar gameplay loop in the past, and when the remaster was announced with "improved combat" I was over the moon. With a good combat system, The Witcher 3 would easily catapult into a stratosphere of quality games rarely reach.
In practice, the remaster fixes a lot of my longstanding problems while keeping some core issues mostly the same. They’re changes I entirely welcome, and while it hasn’t fixed everything enough has been changed to be a notable improvement.
For one, movement feels much better. Dodging during combat is a lot more responsive, Geralt doesn’t run like an 18-wheeler on ice anymore, and Roach may be the biggest improvement of all. Controlling Geralt’s trusty steed has never felt this responsive, with improved handling and physics, making galloping across the world a pleasure. I’ve always felt that it was a sorely missed opportunity that exploring the Continent was clunky and quite tedious; now the sprawling nature of Witcher 3’s world finally feels as good to navigate as it does to look at.
Systemically, The Witcher 3 also sees some much needed streamlining. The new skill tree system makes upgrading and experimenting with builds feel much more intuitive and dynamic, and its one of the remaster’s best changes. The fact that skills have been rebalanced across the board, including finally nerfing Quen, means that your Geralt finally has a reason to start feeling different from mine. The real, actual best change is to the inventory system; making the weight system toggleable should singlehandedly earn CDPR their place in heaven.
That said, the combat… still feels mostly the same. It’s improved, sure, with more responsive dodging, less input lag, and the revamped Signs doing their job, but the core of it still feels as weightless as it did all those years ago. This time around, though, I don’t mind it as much. The rest of the mechanical overhauls do enough to turn the lackluster combat into an odd quirk rather than a symptom of a larger problem, and I actually get to appreciate it in the context of the story while accepting its many imperfections.
The Switch 2 Question
The Witcher 3’s Switch 1 port—what I like to call the Switcher—was a marvel of modern technology. Condensing a world that dense and lived in into a 720p screen and a processor that was already outdated was nothing short of wizardry. The fact that it was serviceable enough for me to complete my first ever playthrough on the platform makes it even better, but its age truly shows. When CDPR announced the remaster coming to Switch 2 with a free upgrade path, I was incredibly excited because my standards for that version of The Witcher 3 were in hell.
Thankfully, Witcher 3 Remastered on Switch 2 is yet another technical marvel from CDPR. While my standards were admittedly low, I can confidently say this port would’ve exceeded my expectations even if that Switch 1 version wasn’t as compromised as it was. It only targets 1080p docked and 720p upscaled in handheld, but it still looks gorgeous thanks to DLSS and not nearly as downscaled compared to the PC or PS5 versions. It is quite taxing on battery life and console temperatures, but it seems to stay within the realm of the Switch 2's most demanding ports.
Witcher 3 Remasters runs at a variable 40FPS on Switch 2, and it mostly maintains that with some dips into the 30s in dense areas like Hierarch's Square or the swamps of Velen. There’s also some texture pop-in from time to time, but all-in-all it’s an impressive port given the Switch 2’s relative power constraints. It’s closer to how Cyberpunk 2077 runs on Switch 2 after post-launch patches, or how recent ports like Onimusha and Pragmata fare; no 60FPS, but CDPR pulls enough tricks like motion blur and VRR to hide the difference well enough.
What’s really new with Witcher 3 Remastered on Switch 2 are the new, albeit optional control options. True to Nintendo’s reputation as a platform with wacky controllers and experimental control schemes, CDPR integrated a few version-exclusive options for the Joy-Con 2s. There’s gyro-aiming, which actually makes the crossbow feel good to use during combat, while mouse mode is a fun novelty for those wanting to emulate the PC layout for whatever reason. There’s also the dual Joycon motion control scheme, and this is a bit of a miss; I might even prefer the definitely real ROACH controller CDPR announced back in April.
It’s a fun novelty in theory, and I’m much more forgiving with motion controls than the average gamer. I played Onimusha: Way of the Sword with the wacky sword swinging motion control scheme, and it was a hilariously fun time. The Witcher 3’s motion controls, though, are quite intrusive; a mere flick of the wrist can cause Geralt to randomly waste a potion or throw bombs at innocent civilians. Motion-controlled domestic terrorism on a Nintendo console, I’ve truly seen it all.
Its Still The Same Witcher 3, For Better or Worse
Elsewhere, The Witcher 3 Remastered is mostly the same game you either already worship and adore or think is a bloated, overrated mess. I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum, and while I eventually grew to deeply love and resonate with this game as I grew older I can acknowledge that its core identity won’t be for everyone. This remaster, being as faithful as it is, won’t do anything to change anyone’s minds.
Instead, all of these changes, plus a few more like the revamped Meditation animations, console mod support, free DLC, an improved Photo Mode, and even toggles for old glitches seem targeted towards returning fans and giving players one last reason to come back to the Continent. With the Songs of the Past DLC expansion and The Witcher 4 just on the horizon, this remaster feels like a victory lap, a celebration of Geralt’s legacy intended to keep the game alive in the minds and hearts of veteran and prospective fans alike. If you believe that The Witcher 3 didn’t need a remaster, or it wasn’t good enough to warrant all of its praise to begin with, then these changes won’t sway you.
There is, of course, nothing inherently wrong with that. A healthy dose of cynicism towards the games industry’s constant repackaging of our nostalgia is perfectly fair, especially when it's for one of the medium’s most sacred cows. Ultimately, it's hard to get mad at The Witcher 3’s remaster when it attempts to address some of the original release’s biggest problems, and even pulls off some of them successfully. While we might not see a Witcher game with truly great combat until Ciri takes the helm (fingers crossed, please CDPR), it does feel nice to revisit these lands and see them not only looking better, but finally controlling better too.
Until then, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered is a perfectly subdued and restrained rerelease of one of gaming’s most towering achievements, and it’s still worth playing today. The remaster may not have hit every note I’ve wanted, but The Witcher 3 was never revered for its precision and perfectionism. The game is an exercise in opulent excess, with a truly sprawling world and story that will, as I’ve said before, consume you whole. The fact that CDPR knew exactly where to focus its efforts and what to leave untouched feels like a great sign for things moving forward.
Is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered Worth It?
An Essential Classic for Newcomers, And An Obvious Free Download for Current Owners
CD Projekt Red’s commitment to making more consumer-friendly decisions, especially in the still-lingering wake of Cyberpunk 2077’s disastrous launch, remains incredibly impressive. With The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered being a free download for anyone on current-gen consoles, the value of the remaster will be immediately apparent. If, for whatever reason, you’re dissatisfied with the new version, it is thankfully possible to reinstall and replay previous builds on most platforms (albeit, with some caveats).
Otherwise, if you’re a newcomer to the gates of Kaer Morhen, The Witcher 3 was already an experience worth the asking price three times over. The fact that the Remastered version also made the DLC expansions free and includes a plethora of quality-of-life updates that’ll satiate any modern-day gaming comforts will make it even easier for newer players to jump into. Still, The Witcher 3 was an essential experience then, and the Remaster has helped it age gracefully as a masterful gaming epic today.
FAQ
Is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered Free?
The remaster for The Witcher 3 is available as a free download for people who currently own the game on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. These upgrades can be downloaded whether you own a physical or digital copy of the game.
What’s New With the Witcher 3 Remaster?
The Witcher 3 remaster most prominently features upscaled visuals and improvements to movement and gameplay systems. The remaster also features certain quality of life upgrades, such as accessibility options and new control schemes.
Game8 Reviews
