Seven years after the launch of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, it’s amazing to be gearing up to launch this next-gen update which harnesses the power of the latest PC technology to bring a swathe of improvements. In terms of technical enhancements, this update uses ray tracing to transform the atmosphere and mood as you explore the Continent’s diverse open world, with ray traced global illumination and ambient occlusion working hand in hand to make overall lighting and surface lighting more realistic. These are joined by PC exclusive ray tracing features: ray traced reflections and ray traced shadows. With all ray tracing features turned on, the beauty of this dark fantasy world will hit harder than ever.
Players on PC will also benefit from DLSS support. If you own a 40 series Nvidia card, then DLSS 3 will help boost your framerate will all features cranked to max — while DLSS 2 helps to maintain your frame rate on other RTX cards. We’re also introducing support for AMD’s FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) technology. These raw technical features are also complemented by built-in mods. The modding scene for The Witcher 3 has always impressed us, and this update is the perfect chance to integrate community-made mods into the game. We’ve curated a selection of mods for this update, from upgraded monster models and improved textures up to 4K resolution, to immersion enhancements, visual bug fixes, and world map inconsistency fixes. In addition to these, we’ve also developed our own selection of gameplay and graphical improvements. Some of these, such as the instant herb looting, help to make gameplay more seamless, while others go deep on improving the visual quality of environmental aspects, such as ground vegetation. We’ve also made the default camera more dynamic, added more UI and map filtering toggles for full immersion, and more.
New content also arrives in the Continent with this update in the form of DLC inspired by another Witcher world — Netflix’s The Witcher series. We’ve got two new armor sets for Geralt, a new silver and steel sword, an alternate outfit for Dandelion, and fresh armor for Nilfgaardian soldier NPCs. Geralt will have to venture on a new quest titled, “In the Eternal Fire’s Shadow”, before he gains access to some of his new gear, so we hope you’re ready for that! We know that a number of new players may come to this game after only seeing the Witcher on Netflix before, so this is a cool way of connecting those two realms — plus, it also gives experienced players something fresh to discover. A special shout out to cross-progression, too, which also comes with this update, allowing you to use the cloud to transfer saves between platforms. If you’ve got a new PC build and want to pick up a save you started on a different platform to see how the game shines on your rig, this is a seamless way to do just that!
We’re really excited to release this anticipated update, which is totally free for all current owners on PC. It’ll arrive on December 14th, just in time for the winter break, ideal for anyone who wants an excuse to re-discover the stories and experiences of the Continent, or escape into the role of Geralt of Rivia for the very first time over the holidays.