Key Takeaways
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered launches September 29 on all supported platforms as a free upgrade for existing owners.
- Your skill points get reset. Skills now sit in a proper skill tree with three ranks each, and you unlock them through prerequisites instead of dumping points.
- Native DirectX 12, a new shading model and Ray-Traced HairWorks change how the game looks across the board.
- PC gets Path Tracing, DLSS 4.5 with Ray Reconstruction, FSR 4 and XeSS 2.0. The top path tracing tier lists an RTX 5080 for 4K at 60 FPS with upscaling and Frame Generation.
- Old saves carry over, including GOG cloud saves, and you can still roll back to version 4.04 or the Classic 1.32 branch.
- Expect 45 GB of free space on most platforms and 50 GB on Nintendo Switch 2.
- Photo Mode, loot, accessibility and mod support all got big upgrades.
CD Projekt Red dropped the full Patch 5.0 notes a day before launch, and honestly, this is a lot more than a texture pass. The remaster touches visuals, combat, the skill system, the UI and even how Roach handles. If you’re planning a fresh run or jumping back into an old save, there are a few things you need to know before you hit update.
Do Your Old Saves Work in Witcher 3 Remastered?
Yes, and that’s the best news in the whole patch. CD Projekt Red confirmed that saves from earlier versions carry over, including the cross-progression saves stored on GOG’s cloud servers. Switch owners moving to the Switch 2 port keep their progress too. So you don’t need to restart your Geralt just to see the new stuff.
If the remaster ends up not being your thing, you can revert to version 4.04, and the older Classic 1.32 branch is still around as well.
Skill Points Reset: The Biggest Gameplay Change
This is the one to read twice. The skill system is completely reworked. Skills are now laid out in a skill tree, and every skill has three ranks. To unlock something new, you need the prerequisite skills first instead of spending a fixed number of points in a branch.
Because of this, all your skill points have been reset. The devs also rebalanced bonus values, effects and synergies, and renamed some skills to match what they actually do. Your old build is basically gone, so treat it like a free respec and plan a new one. The skill screen itself is redesigned into a cleaner tree, which makes planning a lot easier.
Combat and Roach Got a Tune-Up
- Every non-boss monster got polished attack patterns, counterattacks, movement and reactions.
- Cantering and galloping now need a button press instead of a hold.
- There’s a new Horse control input sensitivity slider in Settings under Controls.
- Geralt gets new finishers, new idle animations and smoother ledge climbing, ladder climbing and vaulting.
- You can now hold dodge to unlock from a target, then hit sprint to bail out of a fight.
- Loot can be picked up without getting off Roach.
Also, if you actually missed Roach’s chaotic old behavior, the developers included an option to bring the glitchy mannerisms back.
New Reforge Feature for Gear Appearance
You can now reforge equipment to change how it looks without touching its stats. Only the master craftsmen, Yoana and Hattori, offer the service. You unlock new appearances by adding gear and crafting diagrams to your inventory, and Blood and Wine dyes carry over to the reforged item. Fashion Witcher builds just got a lot easier.
Witcher 3 Remastered Graphics Upgrades
The remaster moves to native DirectX 12 with multithreading, and there’s a new shading model on top. Textures and models pull from the Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project, grass and foliage lighting got better, and Signs and skills have new visual effects. You also get GTAO as a new ambient occlusion option, updated tone mapping, a reworked bloom, better subsurface scattering for skin, image-based lighting and Ray-Traced HairWorks.
HDR players get an updated calibration panel with more options too.
Witcher 3 Remastered PC System Requirements and Path Tracing
PC is where the patch gets spicy. The game now has Path Tracing, DLSS 4.5 with Ray Reconstruction, FSR 4 with Frame Generation and Anti-Lag 2, and XeSS 2.0 with Frame Generation. FSR 4 works on Radeon RX 7000 series and newer, and older cards fall back to FSR 2. DualSense haptic feedback is supported as well.
CD Projekt Red published a full tier list of specs. You can read the whole table in the TechPowerUp breakdown of the official requirements, but here’s the short version:
- Minimum: 1080p at 30 FPS on Low, with a Core i5-8400 or Ryzen 5 2600, 12 GB RAM and a GTX 1660, RX 5500 XT or Arc A580.
- Recommended: 1080p at 60 FPS on High, with a Core i7-8700K or Ryzen 5 3600X, 16 GB RAM and an RTX 2060 Super, RX 6600 XT or Arc B580.
- Path Tracing: 4K at 60 FPS, listing an RTX 5080, 16 GB VRAM, 24 GB RAM and a Core i9-13900K or Ryzen 7 9800X3D.
Keep in mind the path tracing target leans on upscaling and Frame Generation, so it’s not native 4K. Also, CD Projekt Red says it’s no longer testing the game on older versions of Windows, so don’t count on future compatibility there. Newer cards like the Radeon RX 9070 XT and Arc B580 can still run ray tracing and upscaling without needing a top-end rig.
The Steam Deck can run the remaster, but you’ll have to lower some graphics settings to get a decent frame rate. With this many changes, real performance numbers will only show up once people start testing it.
Install Size and Console Support
Plan for at least 45 GB of free storage on most platforms. The Switch 2 version needs 50 GB because it’s a new port. PlayStation 5 gets multithreaded rendering and PS5 Pro support, and Xbox players get Play Anywhere support. On Switch 2 you get four playstyles, gyro aiming, touch controls in menus and Gwent, mouse sensor modes, and HD Rumble on the Joy-Con 2.
UI, Photo Mode and Accessibility
The quality of life list is huge. Meditation is now a timelapse, quest notifications are merged into one HUD popup, and nearby loot can be grouped into a single window with item tooltips. There’s also a loot feed on the left side of the screen, and you can hide herbs, boats and corpses on the minimap. Both the grouped loot window and the feed can be toggled in Settings under Gameplay.
Photo Mode is way bigger now. You can place different characters, use poses and expressions, add and tweak lights, lock the camera, save camera presets, change aspect ratio, switch to first-person, control weather and time of day, and drop in props. There’s even an option to hide NPCs around you.
On the accessibility side, there’s a whole new Accessibility menu, Ukrainian text localization, and the new Bard’s Ballad preset. It’s built for players who get mentally tired or struggle to focus, and it lets you toggle things like infinite breath, unlimited item and boat durability, ignoring item weight, faster boats and a hold-free Witcher Sense.
Mod Support Is Finally Built In
The remaster adds cross-platform mod support through mod.io. You find it under Mods in the main menu, log in with your CD Projekt Red account, connect to mod.io and start browsing. REDkit also got engine and UI improvements to help modders. If you’re into the modding scene, check out our recent post on the Minecraft Ice Caves game drop to see how big game updates keep pulling creators in.
Bug Fixes Worth Knowing About
Stick sensitivity can now be changed from the main menu, HDR settings no longer randomly vanish on consoles, and the Forgotten Wolf School gear diagrams from In the Eternal Fire’s Shadow now show up properly. The Wine is Sacred quest fix stops fast traveling out of Toussaint from blocking progress, but it isn’t retroactive. If you were already stuck, you’ll need an older save.
Should You Update to Witcher 3 Remastered 5.0?
If your save matters to you, back it up first. The skill reset alone is a big deal, especially on a deep New Game Plus run. For everyone else, the free upgrade is easy to justify given the visuals, the skill tree and the extras. You can read more about the game on the Witcher 3 Remastered page.
Want more gaming news while you wait for the download? Read up on Nintendo’s $4.5 million judgment against ArchBox or catch the Pokemon GO Mega Squads event recap.
