The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Remastered Bringing Back Geralt With a Free Upgrade and Major Improvements

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered is only a few days away from its official release, giving you another chance to return to one of the most celebrated RPGs of the past decade. The remastered version has quickly become one of the year's most talked-about releases, especially for players waiting to revisit Geralt’s journey with updated visuals and modern improvements. 

Jumping back into such a large adventure with a range of new features should make the return feel different from simply replaying the original. If you already own the game, you'll also get plenty of new content and improvements without buying another copy.

The remaster is officially scheduled to release on September 29, although you will not have to wait until midnight to start playing. 

The game is expected to become available at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time and 3:00 a.m. Pacific Time, with the exact time varying depending on where you live. That means you can jump into the updated version early Tuesday morning rather than waiting for a traditional midnight launch. 

If you still don't own The Witcher 3, a sale is currently running that gives you a chance to pick it up before the remastered version arrives. The game is available for $24.99 on the PlayStation Store, which represents a 50% discount from its regular price. 

If you've been waiting for another major discount, the current $24.99 price might not feel as appealing as previous sales. Still, you are getting access to a massive RPG that has already received two major expansions, and the remastered upgrade is being offered without an additional charge to existing owners. 

The sheer amount of content included in the original game makes that price different from buying a brand-new full-price release. If you have been looking for a way into The Witcher 3 before the remaster arrives, the current sale gives you that option.

The DLC situation is also worth noting because both major expansions are already free for existing owners. 

You can add Blood and Wine and Hearts of Stone to your library now, though you might want to wait for the remastered upgrade before jumping in. Both expansions are substantial additions to the base game, and Blood and Wine in particular has remained one of the most highly regarded expansions in gaming. Hearts of Stone is also a strong expansion, though it often gets compared directly with Blood and Wine because of the content and polish the latter offers.

The free DLC is especially notable because many players own only the base version of The Witcher 3. CD Projekt Red has also previously sold the base game at extremely low prices, including a $4 sale on Steam, meaning many players have been able to pick up the original game cheaply. 

The company could have used the remaster to sell the updated version and its expansions separately. Instead, the remaster gives existing players the upgraded experience and DLC without requiring them to pay again. This gives longtime players an easy way to experience the new improvements while also making the remaster more accessible to anyone who already owns the original game.

That approach also gives The Witcher franchise another opportunity to build interest around its future. The Witcher 3 remains one of the most recognizable games in the series, and putting the remastered version in front of both returning players and newcomers gives the franchise another burst of attention. 

With more Witcher projects planned, including the next mainline game, bringing people back to Geralt’s adventure could help keep the series in the conversation. The remaster therefore does more than a technical update, since it also puts one of the franchise’s most popular games back in the spotlight.

Physical copies are also eligible for the upgrade, although the renewed interest in the game appears to be affecting prices in some stores. Used copies at GameStop have reportedly been listed for around $29.99, notably higher than prices you could find during some previous sales. You may still find copies at local game stores, particularly those that carry older games, but prices can vary considerably by retailer. 

One of the remaster's more interesting additions is the transmog system, which lets you change the appearance of Geralt’s equipment without sacrificing the stats you want from your gear.

Pavlo Sasko, who worked on the remaster, highlighted Reforge as one of the features he helped design for the updated version. The system is familiar to players who have spent time with modern MMOs, and similar cosmetic gear systems have become increasingly common in single-player games. 

That is only one part of the larger collection of quality-of-life changes included in the remaster. You are also getting improved visuals, camera changes, gameplay adjustments, and other updates designed to make the original experience feel more modern. None of these changes require a separate purchase if you already own the game. 

All those improvements do come with one obvious downside, though: the download will be large. On PC, the remastered update is expected to take around 45 GB, although the final size can vary depending on the language packs installed. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox versions are also expected to be around 45 GB, while the Nintendo Switch 2 version will be approximately 50 GB. 

Also, make sure you have enough free storage before the update arrives. On PS5, the roughly 45 GB remastered update appears to be added on top of the storage space already required by The Witcher 3, meaning you may need considerably more free space than the update size alone suggests. 

With the original game and its additional content already taking up storage, clearing some room ahead of time could save you from dealing with the issue when the update goes live. The remaster is essentially another substantial download for an already huge game.

The release timing is another interesting part of the situation because The Witcher 3 Remastered is arriving during an unusually busy period for games. 

You could already be working through long RPGs, action games, and other major releases, and adding another 70- or 80-hour adventure with its expansions can quickly grow your backlog. The remaster isn't launching as an entirely new paid game, but it still demands a lot of time if you want to experience everything.

That crowded release period includes games such as The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter, Silent Hill, Control, Ace Combat, Onimusha, and Blood of Dawnwalker. With so many releases arriving close together, The Witcher 3 Remastered is effectively joining an already packed lineup. 

The Witcher 3 Remastered will also carry over your existing save data, which should make the transition easier for players who have already invested dozens or even hundreds of hours in the game. There will be no new trophy list, so players looking for another set of achievements will not get an entirely separate list to complete. 

Still, keeping existing save data intact means you will not necessarily have to start from the beginning just to experience the updated version. That makes the remaster more convenient for returning players who want to continue an existing playthrough.

With the September 29 release approaching, The Witcher 3 Remastered is shaping up to be a substantial update rather than a simple visual upgrade. You get improved presentation, quality-of-life changes, new features such as transmog, free access to the major expansions, and support for existing save data. 

If you already own the base game, the upgrade gives you a straightforward way to return to Geralt’s adventure without purchasing the remaster separately. The only thing you really need to prepare for is the large download and the amount of time this enormous RPG can take once you start playing again.