CD Projekt overhauled The Witcher 3 from combat to the skill tree. It's coming soon and you (might) get it for free

The Witcher 3 was released eleven years ago and still ranks among the best the RPG genre has to offer. CD Projekt RED now announced it at the gamescom opening night in a remastered form with a September 29 release – and immediately added the most important detail: for everyone who owns the game, it will be a free upgrade.

It’s not just a new coat of paint

With remasters, one has learned to expect higher resolution, sharper textures, and that’s it. Here, the list of changes is substantially longer and extends to systems that players have complained about for years.

Graphically, the studio promises new textures, revamped rendering, advanced path tracing, and better vegetation. More interesting, however, is the rest: improved combat with new finishing moves, a completely redesigned skill tree, new Witcher sign effects, reworked character movement, and – finally – different controls for Roach, whom no one has yet managed to call a well-controlled horse.

There’s also smarter monster behavior, transmog for changing equipment appearance, an expanded photo mode, a revamped loot system, new quest tracking, and cross-platform mod support. Console players will thus get their hands on what has been a PC privilege for years.

Who gets it for free

The free upgrade applies to owners of the game on GOG, Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Both major expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, are also part of the package.

The Witcher 3 will also be released on two new platforms. A native version of the remaster will be released on Nintendo Switch 2, with owners of the game on the original Switch being able to claim it. The second novelty is Battle.net – CD Projekt has partnered with Blizzard for this, a combination that no one would have thought possible a few years ago. Both versions also launch on September 29.

And one more gift: all current owners of the base game are getting both expansions for free today. So if you never bought Hearts of Stone or Blood and Wine, you have a month to complete them before the remaster’s release.

And then comes Songs of the Past

The remaster is only half of the announcement. The studio also revealed for the first time a new expansion, Songs of the Past, which will be released in 2027 – twelve years after the original game’s release and eleven years after Blood and Wine.

It will take players to a completely new area called Letten, which CD Projekt describes as an idyllic rural landscape with a dark secret beneath the surface. New Gwent content is also included. The expansion is intended to serve as a story bridge to The Witcher 4, in which Ciri will take on the main role and which the studio is targeting for 2028.

Will you play The Witcher 3 again, or have you played it enough times already?

Sources: CD PROJEKT RED, GamesRadar, KitGuru, ScreenRant