Free The Witcher 3 Remaster Is Out: New Progression, Cross-Platform Mods and Path Tracing

On September 29, 2026, CD Projekt RED released The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered. The large-scale update is already available on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2. Owners of the original game on those platforms get the upgrade completely free. For fans of the series, it’s a reason to return to the Continent: the studio didn’t settle for a cosmetic texture touch-up and instead reworked the foundation of the combat system, the interface and the graphics engine.

One important note for returning players: when an old save is loaded for the first time, all skill points are reset. The developers completely rebuilt Geralt’s progression system, turning it into a classic branching tree where every ability has three levels and new synergies with other perks, so builds have to be put together from scratch.

Smarter Monsters, Transmogrification and Console Mods

According to the detailed changelog, gameplay has become more dynamic. The developers rewrote the AI of regular enemies: monsters got new attack patterns and learned to counterattack and move around the arena better. Geralt received new finisher animations, and the physics of controlling Roach were fixed — the horse now responds to commands more readily and steers around obstacles better.

Another long-awaited addition is a full transmogrification system. Players can now freely change the appearance of armor at the armorsmiths Yoana and Hattori while keeping its combat stats.

For fans of user content, CD Projekt RED integrated cross-platform mod support through the mod.io service. Mods can now be installed straight from the game’s main menu without manually moving files around, which matters especially for console players. The updated REDkit toolkit gained extra features for creators of their own quests and locations.

Perils, potions, monster contracts, and an elusive reunion… It’s time to return to the Continent and face the Wild Hunt once more.

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt – Remastered is here, as a free upgrade bringing countless improvements to Geralt of Rivia’s adventure across visuals,… pic.twitter.com/blyvVMtQVA

— The Witcher (@thewitcher) September 29, 2026

A Technical Leap and Free DLC

The remaster’s visuals now run on native multithreaded DirectX 12 rendering. The developers updated textures, vegetation and Sign effects. The PC version got full path tracing, along with support for all current frame generators: DLSS 4.5 with ray reconstruction, FSR 4 and XeSS 2.0. Because system requirements have risen sharply, the studio recommends that owners of older computers check the new specs before launching the game.

On consoles, the game also uses current hardware. On PlayStation 5 Pro, the remaster supports the PSSR upscaler and delivers up to 90 frames per second on displays with VRR support. A dedicated native version for Nintendo Switch 2 uses the gyroscope, the touchscreen and the Joy-Con 2 mouse function, and displays HDR images in handheld mode.

A pleasant surprise for the whole community is the new monetization policy for old content. As stated in the official launch announcement, the major story expansions Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine are now permanently included in the remaster. Even players who once bought only the most basic version of The Witcher 3 without a season pass get free access to them.