Published: September 29, 2026 
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered is officially out today, and the full patch notes make it clear this isn't just a visual touch-up. CD Projekt Red made some real changes to how the game plays, and if you're heading back to the Continent, there are a few things worth knowing before you load up that old save. Here's a complete breakdown of The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Remastered patch notes.
1. The Skill Tree Is Completely New
The biggest gameplay change that we found in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered's patch notes is the skill system. It's been rebuilt from scratch. Instead of spending points freely on whatever you want, skills are now organized into a proper skill tree with prerequisites. You need earlier skills unlocked before you can get to the ones deeper in the tree. Each skill also has three separate ranks now instead of a single unlock.
If you are a returning player, then your skill points are being reset. CD Projekt Red is upfront about this in the notes. The new setup actually makes you think about what kind of Geralt you're building.
They've also rebalanced the bonuses and synergies, and renamed a few skills to better describe what they actually do.
Also Read:
2. Gear Reforging Lets You Keep the Look You Want
One of the small but consistent frustrations in Witcher 3 is that fashion and function rarely line up. You find armor that looks exactly how you want Geralt to look, and then a few hours later you're forced to swap it for something statistically better but visually ugly.
Gear Reforging solves this in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered. You can now take equipment to a master craftsman and change how it looks without touching its stats at all. The only craftsmen who offer this service are Yoana (from Hearts of Stone) and Hattori in Novigrad, so you'll need to know where to find them.
New appearances are unlocked by adding equipment and crafting diagrams to your inventory. And if you've already dyed gear using the Blood and Wine system, those dyes carry over to the reforged item.
3. Visual Upgrades
- The game now uses native DirectX 12 rendering with multithreading, so you will get better performance alongside better visuals.
- Textures and models have been updated using assets from the community-made HD Reworked Project, which has been the gold standard for Witcher 3 visuals for years.
- Ground Truth Ambient Occlusion (GTAO) is added as a new shadow option, and lighting for grass, foliage, terrain, and skin rendering has all been improved.
- Ray-Traced Local Shadows, updated Bloom, Motion Blur, and Screen Space Reflections round out the visual side.
4. What PC Players Get in The Witcher 3 Remastered
PC players have the most to gain on the technical side. Here's a breakdown of the additions:
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Path Tracing | Full support added |
| NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 | Includes Ray Reconstruction |
| AMD FSR 4 | - Frame Generation - Anti-Lag 2 (RX 7000 Series+) |
| Intel XeSS 2.0 | - Frame Generation - Low Latency |
| Ray-Traced HairWorks | Better hair lighting and shading |
| DirectX 12 | Native with multithreading |
| DualSense Haptic Feedback | PS5 controller haptic support on PC |
CD Projekt Red specifically calls out in the notes that you should update your GPU drivers before launching. The system requirements have also changed with this update, so it's worth double-checking before you jump in. Here are the requirements:
5. What PS5 Players Get in The Witcher 3 Remastered
PS5 Pro players are getting dedicated support through:
- PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR)
- Variable Refresh Rate
- Uncapped frame rates
Ray Tracing Mode now targets 60 FPS while Performance Mode can reach up to 90 FPS on VRR-capable displays.
The Nintendo Switch 2 version has a solid feature list, too. It supports four control styles, including:
- Motion Controls and Mouse Sensor input
- Joy-Con 2 HD Rumble for better vibration feedback
- VRR in handheld mode and HDR support
- Full touch screen input for menus, the world map, Gwent, and Photo Mode.
6. Photo Mode
Photo Mode is getting one of the biggest expansions:
- You can now place characters into your shots with custom poses and expressions.
- Placeable props and lights give you full scene control.
- Weather, time of day, and even rain intensity can all be adjusted.
- You can hide nearby NPCs for a cleaner composition and use a first-person camera to see the world through Geralt's eyes.
- Camera locking means you won't accidentally move the shot while setting it up.
- Saved camera presets let you reuse positions and angles across different sessions.
- Aspect ratio control and Rule of Thirds guidelines with optional cinematic black bars give you actual composition tools.
There's also a confirmation prompt before exiting Photo Mode now. At this point, Photo Mode in The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Remastered is less of a side feature and more of a full creative sandbox.
7. Quality of Life Improvements
There are a few smaller changes here that will make a bigger difference than you'd expect.
- Looting from Roach - You can now pick up items from the ground without dismounting, which saves a surprising amount of time during long riding sessions.
- Combat disengagement - Hold dodge to break target lock, then press sprint to run. Getting out of a bad fight in the original game felt clunky; now it's not.
- Grouped loot window - Cleans up one of the messiest parts of exploring areas with multiple bodies. You can also preview item stats before picking something up, which is great when you're managing inventory on the fly.
- Meditation now shows a timelapse instead of a static UI screen.
- Quest tracking on the map has been improved too, with untracked quests getting distinct markers and easier switching between what you're actively following.
8. Accessibility Gets a Dedicated Section
CD Projekt Red added a proper Accessibility section to the settings. The headline addition is the Bard's Ballad preset, built for players who experience mental fatigue or have difficulty concentrating.
You can turn it on at the start of a new game on Just the Story difficulty or enable it mid-game from the settings. Each of its options can be individually toggled.
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered Supported Platforms
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered is out now. Here's where you can get it:
| Platform | Available On |
|---|---|
| PC | Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, Battle.net |
| PlayStation 5 | PlayStation Store |
| Xbox Series X|S | Xbox / Microsoft Store |
| Nintendo Switch 2 | Nintendo eShop |
If you already own any version of the game, the Remastered upgrade is free. The only condition is that you're upgrading within the same platform ecosystem you originally bought it on.
FAQs
Yes, if you already own any version of the game, the Remastered upgrade is free, as long as you upgrade within the same platform ecosystem you originally purchased it on.
Your saves will carry over, but your skill points will be fully reset because of the new skill tree system, so you'll need to rebuild your character setup from scratch.
It's available on PC (Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, Battle.net), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
