With impressions going live for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered, CD Projekt RED has detailed everything new in the free upgrade.
We already know about the improved shading model, improvements to foliage lighting and shading, tone mapping, GTA as a new SSAO option, and Ray-Traced HairWorks. That doesn’t include Subsurface Scattering for characters’ skin, improved terrain, and Image-Based Lighting.
But the developer has finally revealed how it’s overhauled the skill system. There’s now a skill tree with each having up to three ranks. Instead of spending skill points, you’ll now need to meet certain prerequisites to unlock new options. Furthermore, skill bonus values, synergies and effects have been rebalanced.
Equipment can also be reforged to change its appearance. You’ll need to obtain new gear and crafting diagrams to unlock their appearances, and only masters like Yoana and Hattori can perform the task, but it’s a massive step up for customization.
There’s a lot more to go through, from the updated Photo Mode UI and options to place multiple characters in a shot to the updated map screen, improved gap-closing animations in combat, and more. Check out some of them below and full details here.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered launches on September 29th at 3 AM PDT for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. Those who own any version can upgrade for free.
Update Notes
Visual and Rendering
- Implemented an improved shading model.
- Updated multiple textures and models based on assets from The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project.
- Improved lighting and shading for grass and foliage.
- Updated the visual effects of Signs, including their upgrade versions.
- Added new visual effects for skills.
- The game now features native DirectX 12 rendering with multithreading for better performance and visuals.
- Updated tone mapping for improved colors, lighting, contrast and detail.
- Added GTAO (Ground Truth Ambient Occlusion) as a new Screen Space Ambient Occlusion option.
- Updated the HDR calibration panel by adding new options and other improvements.
- Added Ray-Traced HairWorks for improved lighting and shading on hair.
- Improved Motion Blur with a higher-quality, more cinematic look.
- Updated Subsurface Scattering for more natural skin rendering.
- Improved terrain and material rendering for more natural lighting, shadows, reflections, and highlights.
- Implemented new Image-Based Lighting (IBL) for improved ambient lighting and reflections across different environments.
- Reworked Bloom for more improved lighting effects across different environments.
Gameplay
- Improved the skill system. Skills are now organized into a skill tree and each skill has three ranks. Unlocking new skills now requires having the necessary prerequisite skills rather than spending a set number of skill points. IMPORTANT: As a result of these changes, your skill points have been reset.
- Rebalanced the skill tree by refining skill bonus values, effects and synergies.
- Renamed some skills to better reflect their effects.
- You can now Reforge your equipment to change its appearance without affecting its stats. Only master craftsmen (Yoana and Hattori) offer this service. Unlock appearances by adding new equipment and crafting diagrams to your inventory. Dyes from Blood and Wine applied to equipment will carry over to the reforged item.
- Polished the combat behavior of all non-boss monsters, including their attack patterns, counterattacks, movement, reactions, flight and the application of effects.
- Cantering and galloping now requires pressing the button instead of holding it.
- Added a new “Horse control input sensitivity” slider in Settings → Controls.
- Improved Roach’s and Geralt’s movement, player control and animations:
- Refined Geralt’s jumping animation so that it feels more natural and polished. Note:
- This doesn’t affect jump distance and height.
- Added new finisher animations for Geralt.
- Added new idle animations for Geralt.
- Improved Geralt’s ledge climbing, ladder climbing and vaulting animations as well as his speed for more responsive, fluid movement.
- Improved Geralt’s gap closing animations in combat for smoother gameplay.
- Improved target-lock switching when moving the camera in combat.
- Polished animations for mounting and dismounting Roach, as well as cantering and galloping.
UI/UX
- Meditation now features a timelapse instead of a UI screen for a more immersive feel.
- The skill screen is now reorganized into a more intuitive skill tree layout.
- Updated the map screen to make switching between tracked quests easier. Untracked quests now have a distinct marker and can be tracked by selecting it.
- You can now hide herbs, boats and corpses on the minimap in Settings → Video →
- Interface for a cleaner, less distracting view.
- Improved quest notifications by combining quest updates into a single HUD notification.
- Nearby loot can now be grouped into a single window, so you no longer need to browse through multiple loot windows. You can enable this feature in Settings → Gameplay.
- Added a loot feed that displays recently collected items on the left side of the screen. You can disable it in Settings → Gameplay.
- Added item tooltips to the loot window, allowing you to preview an item’s details before picking it up.
- Renamed the “HUD Configuration” section in Settings to “Interface”.
- Updated the CD PROJEKT RED Account connection, My Rewards and telemetry consent menus.
Photo Mode
- Updated the Photo Mode UI and vastly expanded its features and options:
- You can now choose from multiple different characters to place in your shot.
- Added a selection of poses and expressions for Geralt and placeable characters.
- Added a Look-at dropdown, allowing you to choose where Geralt and placeable characters direct their gaze.
- You can now place lights and adjust their brightness, color, angles and more.
- Added a confirmation prompt before exiting Photo Mode to help prevent accidental exits.
- You can now lock the camera position in Photo Mode to make sure you capture the perfect shot.
- Added the option to apply different environment presets to your scene.
- Added the option to save camera presets, allowing you to save and reuse camera positions and angles.
- You can now change the aspect ratio of your screenshot.
- Added the option to toggle a first-person camera mode so you can see the world through Geralt’s eyes.
- You can now enable or disable camera collisions with objects and walls.
- Set the perfect scene by changing the weather and time of day.
- Adjust the intensity of weather effects like rain or storms.
- Added an option to toggle Rule of Thirds lines in various aspect ratios, with optional cinematic black bars.
- Camera coordinates will now be visible in the UI.
- Added an option to hide surrounding NPCs.
- Added placeable props, giving you even more ways to create the perfect scene. Just don’t ask where they all came from.
- The cursor is now visible in Photo Mode on PC when using a mouse.
