The Witcher 3 remaster launches on 29 September

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CD Projekt Red has confirmed that a remastered edition of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will launch on 29 September, more than a decade after the original role-playing game first appeared in 2015. The announcement was made during Gamescom's Opening Night Live showcase. Crucially, the update will be offered as a free upgrade to anyone who already owns the base game on GOG, Steam, the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S, and it will also bring the game natively to the Nintendo Switch 2 for the first time, including for those who originally bought it on the first Switch.

The remaster promises a substantial overhaul rather than a simple visual polish. CD Projekt Red says Geralt of Rivia has 'never looked better', with reworked lighting and colour grading shown off in the Gamescom trailer, alongside an expanded photo mode. Beyond the graphics, the studio has reworked combat, including camera and targeting tweaks and new finishing moves, improved monster behaviour, smoother traversal and mount handling, and a rebuilt skill tree. Other changes include a new tutorial, reworked looting and quest tracking, and a transmogrification feature that lets players separate Geralt's visual appearance from the armour set providing his stats. The update also folds in the game's two major expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, for owners of the base game.

The remaster builds on the free next-generation update CD Projekt Red released in 2022, and it marks the opening move in a much larger push for the Witcher franchise over the coming years. The studio has already confirmed a brand new expansion for The Witcher 3, titled Songs of the Past, due in 2027, alongside a short gameplay teaser shown at Gamescom. It is also working towards The Witcher 4, the next mainline entry in the series, targeted for 2028, and a separate remake of the original Witcher game remains in development. Coverage broadly frames the remaster as an attempt to draw new and lapsed players back into the series ahead of these bigger releases.

Reporting is largely consistent on the headline details, though outlets differ in emphasis. Some coverage focuses heavily on the fact that Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, normally priced separately, are being made free even before the remaster's release, citing enthusiastic fan reactions on Reddit and YouTube; others treat the free expansions chiefly as a feature bundled into the remaster itself rather than a standalone giveaway. There is also a small but notable discrepancy around Nintendo Switch owners: while most platforms receive the free DLC immediately, one report notes this benefit does not extend to the original Switch version, whose players must instead wait for the native Switch 2 remaster. Terminology varies too, with the update variously described as a 'remaster' and, in one case, a 'remake', though the substance of the changes described is the same across sources.

Where outlets differ

Emphasis on the free DLC as a pre-remaster giveaway (with fan quotes) versus treating it simply as part of the remaster package

Whether original Nintendo Switch owners get the free expansions immediately or must wait for the Switch 2 native remaster

Use of the word 'remaster' versus 'remake' to describe the update

Level of detail on the 2028 Witcher 4 target and the separate Witcher 1 remake, mentioned in some accounts but not others

• www.theverge.com
• www.polygon.com
• www.polygon.com
• www.engadget.com