There’s a lot of new stuff coming to The Witcher 3 Remastered, and it’s not just a graphical or performance overhaul, as there are some gameplay and mechanic changes being introduced to boot, many of which will come as great news to existing fans of the iconic RPG.
The best news about the remaster is that it comes as a free upgrade to anyone who already owns the base game, so whether you’re wondering what’s going to change in one of your favorite games or you’re considering buying it now for the first time, here’s what’s new with The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Remastered.
Everything new in The Witcher 3 Remastered
Here’s a list of most of the new additions and changes coming in The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Remastered:
- Upgraded visuals
- Enhanced combat
- New Witcher Signs FX
- Revamped mount handling
- Improved traversal and movement
- Refreshed monster behavior
- Revamped skill tree
- Transmogrification
- Expanded photo mode
- New finishers
- Immersive meditation
- Refined animations
- New quest tracking
- UI improvements
- Looting rework
- Refreshed motion blur
- New accessibility features
- Improved menu navigation
- Ray tracing improvements
- Updated textures
- Foliage shading rework
- Global lighting rework
- New shading model
- Cross-platform mod support
- Xbox Play Anywhere support
- Switch 2 exclusive features
This is just the start of what’s set to change with the remaster of The Witcher 3, with this list taken from the official announcement trailer, where you can see even more details, including Nvidia DLSS 4.5 and AMD FSR 4 compatibility, tutorial modernization, and PS5 Pro support.
While there’s a lot to dissect here, I’m just going to highlight a few of the most prominent changes below.
Revamped Mount Handling
Perhaps one of the most exciting changes for The Witcher 3 fans is going to be the overhaul to mount handling, one of the most famously frustrating parts of the original game. Hopefully this means you’ll get stuck on objects a little less, and path finding should feel much smoother. Given the changes to character movement as well, it may even mean your horse will be able to jump fences. After all, as you can see from the announcement trailer, Geralt can now vault fences and walls, a new mechanic added with traversal and movement improvements, so this could – and should – apply to mounts as well.
Enhanced skill tree
Another massive change from the original game comes in the form of a Skill Tree overhaul, which seems to suggest you’ll be able to unlock skills in a new and more cost-effective way. Instead of being forced to unlock a certain number of basic skills before moving down the skill tree, there seems to be more fluidity between branches now, letting you unlock some of the more advanced skills earlier.
Upgraded visuals
Naturally, you’d expect a visual overhaul with any remaster, and Wild Hunt doesn’t disappoint. Alongside a standard graphics update, we can look forward to the likes of updated textures, a foliage shading rework, new shading, raytracing, and lighting, and even ray-traced hair, which, as we can tell from some of the most downloaded Witcher 3 mods, is an important feature for many.
Alongside graphical changes, there’s even more to make Geralt, Ciri, and even the world’s monsters more easy on the eye with new Witcher Signs effects, new finisher animations, and a completely new transmogrification system.
Among the rest of the changes, I’m also particularly excited about quest tracking improvements, making it easier to track and complete all of the Witcher 3 side quests and Wild Hunt contracts, hopefully with some sort of level or distance filter. I also can’t wait to make the most of the improved photo mode and capture the newly upgraded visuals in all their glory.
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