The Witcher 3 Remastered Makes an 11-Year-Old RPG Feel New Again

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt did not necessarily need another remaster. CD PROJEKT RED's 2022 next-generation update already improved its visuals, introduced ray tracing, shortened loading times, integrated popular community mods, and brought the RPG comfortably onto modern consoles. After playing the newly released Remastered edition on Nintendo Switch 2, however, I am surprised by how much more contemporary the game now feels.

This is particularly apparent because the original Switch port was such a technically improbable release. Having the entirety of The Witcher 3 running on Nintendo’s previous handheld was impressive, but the soft image, stripped-back environments, and inconsistent performance made its compromises impossible to ignore. The native Switch 2 edition is in another league.

The reception so far has been broadly positive, raking in a staggering 94 average on Metacritic following the first 10 critic reviews. Much of the praise revolves around the scale of the upgrade, which is entirely free if you own the base game already, plus the revised combat and progression, and the enormous improvements for the Switch 2 edition. 

Both docked and handheld, the new version looks remarkably clean and detailed on the Switch 2 version, for which I got an early code to try from CDPR. Foliage is denser, materials are more convincing, lighting has considerably more depth, and distant environments no longer dissolve into the hazy approximation seen in the original Switch conversion. Character models also hold up better during conversations, which is especially important in a game where players spend so much time studying faces and evaluating dialogue choices.

Performance has similarly impressed me so far. The Switch 2 version targets between 30 and 40 FPS, with variable refresh rate support helping the handheld presentation feel smoother. A compatible 120Hz display can also allow the docked version to approach its 40 FPS target. Image reconstruction occasionally produces softness around fine foliage or hair, but the overall result feels far closer to a current console release than a compromised portable adaptation.

Nintendo-specific options include gyro aiming, touchscreen support, and Joy-Con 2 mouse controls, giving this version a few advantages of its own rather than merely scaling down the experience available elsewhere.

The more important accomplishment is that The Witcher 3 Remastered feels modern beyond its graphics. CD Projekt Red has revisited combat, movement, animation, enemy behavior, cameras, progression, accessibility, and numerous smaller sources of friction. These changes rarely transform the game individually, but together they remove much of the stiffness that revealed its age. Everything is all still a bit stiff, though.

That being said, Geralt absolutely transitions between movements and attacks more naturally, climbing is less awkward, finishers have been expanded, and combat feels more responsive. Dynamic cameras provide a clearer view during fights and exploration, while revisions to enemy AI and pathfinding make encounters appear less rigidly attached to systems created more than a decade ago.

Combat is still recognizably The Witcher 3. Anyone expecting the animation-driven swordplay to have been completely rebuilt will find its familiar foundations intact. Geralt can still occasionally turn more widely than intended, collide awkwardly with scenery, or perform an animation that does not quite match the surrounding terrain. This is an extensive remaster rather than a remake.

That distinction applies to the entire game. The environments, performances, quests, and basic structure remain fundamentally unchanged. Some character animations and cinematic staging still reveal the production standards of 2015, especially when placed beside the dramatically improved lighting and materials.

Nevertheless, the visual and mechanical work is substantial enough that returning to the older version would be difficult. That was precisely CD Projekt Red’s intention. Executive Producer Jakub Kutrzuba explained that, unlike the predominantly technical next-generation update, the team wanted Remastered to stand alongside games being released today.

Progression has received one of the more consequential revisions. The redesigned skill tree introduces clearer prerequisites and condenses skills into three ranks, allowing builds to develop more meaningfully without requiring players to repeatedly spend points on barely perceptible statistical upgrades. Existing characters have their skill points returned, making it possible to rebuild Geralt around the new structure.

Transmogrification finally allows armor appearance to be separated from its statistics, solving the enduring problem of having to choose between an effective build and a visually coherent Geralt. The expanded Photo Mode complements that freedom with more tools and the ability to place characters inside a composition.

Other additions are quieter but equally welcome. New map markers make unfinished questlines easier to identify, meditation can show time passing through the environment, and refinements to menus and navigation reduce the amount of unnecessary friction between adventures. The Bard’s Ballad accessibility preset is designed to reduce cognitive load, while additional settings let players adjust individual parts of the experience.

On PC, the visual ceiling extends considerably higher through expanded ray tracing and path tracing. Those settings can produce impressive indirect lighting and reflections, although their substantial hardware demands mean the conventional rendering options will make more sense for many players. The important point is that Remastered scales from a portable Switch 2 to some of the most powerful contemporary PCs without treating either audience as an afterthought.

The timing is deliberate. The Witcher 3 has sold more than 65 million copies, and Remastered prepares the game for the arrival of its new expansion, Songs of the Past, in 2027. It also introduces another generation of players to Geralt’s story before the series moves forward with The Witcher 4.

After playing on Switch 2, I think CD Projekt Red has largely achieved its goal. This is clearly still an 11-year-old game, and anyone expecting a ground-up remake will notice the difference. That being said, it no longer feels like an older RPG surviving primarily through the strength of its writing. The Witcher 3 Remastered feels like a classic that has been thoughtfully adapted to modern expectations, and, on Nintendo’s new hardware, finally like the portable version this extraordinary game deserves.

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