CD Projekt Red is all set to release the free next-gen update for the Game of the Year award-winning title, Witcher 3 Wild Hunt, this Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 1:00 AM CET. The update brings major graphics and quality of life updates to the title, as well as its two major expansions, Heart of Stones, Blood and Wine, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
The PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch versions will also receive an update with new features. After the update, the game will be upgraded to version 4.0 with the Game of the Year Edition replaced by the Complete Edition. with that being said, let’s take a look at the patch notes.
Patch notes for Witcher 3 Wild Hunt’s next-gen upgrade
Witcher 3 is undoubtedly one of CD Project Red’s best titles ever. The third chapter of Geralt’s journey follows the White Wolf on his journey to find Ciri and take on the Wild Hunt.
The next-gen upgrade for Witcher 3 brings major visual design changes, including ray tracinglike upgrades across the board with a small new content. The full list of changes in Witcher 3 is as follows
Exclusive to PC and next generation
- Ray traced global illumination and ambient occlusion added.
- In addition, PC players with compatible hardware have an additional option to enable ray-traced reflections and shadows.
- Added various mods and mod-inspired content to the game to improve visuals and overall game quality. We’ve added some community-created favorites in addition to our own tweaks in areas such as environment and cutscene improvements, realistic sidewalks, and many decoration upgrades.
- Community-made and community-inspired mods include:
- The Witcher 3 HD reworked project by HalkHogan
- HD Monsters reworked by Denroth
- Immersive real-time cutscenes from teiji25
- Nitpicker’s Patch from chuckcash
- World map corrections by Terg500
- Texture upscaled to 4K for various characters including Geralt, Yennefer, Triss, Ciri, Eredin and more.
- All main characters, including Geralt, now cast self-shadow in high resolution, even outside of cutscenes. In addition, armor cutting hair and some other armor cutting issues have been fixed.
- Environmental improvements:
- Added a new weather type – “Grey Sky”
- Updated air textures
- Vegetation and water improvements
- Various mesh improvements
- Improved some selected VFX
- Updated global ambient lighting
- Added AMD FidelityFX™ Super Resolution (FSR) 2.1
- Added Photo Mode, allowing players to take stunning photos in The Witcher 3 world.
- Added the option to pause the game during cutscenes.
- Added an alternate camera option that is closer to the player character and reacts more dynamically to combat and movement. You can find this new setting in Options → Gameplay under Exploration, Combat and Horseback camera distance.
PC specific
- Added “ULTRA+” graphics settings on PC, which significantly increases the game’s visual fidelity. The graphics settings available on ULTRA+ affect:
- Number of background characters
- Shadow quality
- Grass density
- Texture quality
- Foliage visibility range
- Terrain quality
- Water quality
- detail level
- DLSS 3 support added. Only available on compatible hardware.
Console specific for the next generation
- Improved overall graphics quality on next-gen consoles. Including improved textures, improved fidelity, shadow quality, increased draw distances and crowd density.
- Ray Tracing Mode — provides ray-traced global illumination and ambient occlusion with dynamic resolution scaling targeting 30 FPS for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
- Performance Mode — Provides smoother gameplay targeting 60 FPS with dynamic resolution scaling for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
- The Xbox Series S version does not have ray tracing features. Quality mode offers higher resolution and better image fidelity targeting 30 FPS, while Performance mode targets 60 FPS and prioritizes smoother gameplay over visual quality.
- The use of adaptive triggers and haptic feedback implemented on PS5 DualSense controllers.
- Added activity cards for PS5.
Online Features
- Added a cross-progression feature between platforms. Your latest saves are automatically uploaded to the cloud, so you can easily pick up where you left off on other platforms. Cross-progression provides the latest save for each type of save. This feature becomes available after you sign in to your account.
- By signing up for MY REWARDS in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, players can receive:
- Swords of the nine-tailed vixen
- White Tiger of the West armor
- Dol Blathanna armor set
- Roach card
Detailed information on how to redeem the rewards will be available at thewitcher.com/my-rewards starting December 14 at 01:00 CET.
additional content
- Added a new side mission, In the shadow of eternal fire, in Many. Rewards are inspired by those of Netflix The witcher series.
- Added an alternate look for Dandelion inspired by Netflix’s The witcher series. You can enable it in Options → Gameplay.
- Added an alternate Nilfgaardian armor set inspired by Netflix’s The witcher series. You can enable it in Options → Gameplay.
- Chinese and Korean voice over added. Availability on consoles varies by region.
- Various improvements and changes to the Russian voiceover, including fixes for fast/slow lines in the vast majority of scenes.
Changes in quality of life
- Added a Quick Sign Casting option. Allows boards to be swapped and poured without opening the radial menu. You can find it in Options → Gameplay.
- Added a new default map filter. The new filter hides some icons like “?” and boat icons to reduce icon clutter on the map. These icons can be turned back on using the “All” map mode switch.
- Adjusted the minimum fall damage height to allow the player to survive falls from a higher height.
- Herbs can now be looted directly with a single interaction – without the extra loot window.
- Added options that dynamically hide the minimap and objectives when not in combat or using Witcher senses. You can find it in Options → Video → HUD Configuration → Hide Minimap While Exploring and Hide Objectives While Exploring.
- Added the option to run slowly when playing with a controller. You can now walk slowly by slightly pushing the left stick forward.
- Added an alternate sprint mode option when playing with a controller. It is activated by tapping the left stick. You can find it in Options → Control Settings.
- Added an option to make target lock unaffected by camera inversion. You can find it in Options → Control Settings.
- Improved the radial menu so that bombs, bolts and bag items can now be swapped dynamically without opening the inventory.
- Added the option to scale the font size for subtitles, NPC chatter and dialogue choices. You can find it in Options → Video → HUD Configuration.
- Added various other minor fixes, tweaks and quality of life changes, including a few secrets for players to discover.
Gameplay
- Added the mod Full battle balance 3 by Flash_in_the_flesh, including balance changes and various gameplay fixes. We’ve taken a curated approach to this mod, where some elements have been further tweaked by default to match what you’ll find in the mod, while others have been omitted.
- Scavenger Hunt: Wolf School Equipment – Fixed an issue where the chest at the Signal Tower could not be opened.
- From the far shores of Ofier – Fixed an issue where the diagram in the chest at the bandit’s hideout could be missing.
- Hard times – Fixed an issue where Geralt couldn’t talk or give the letter to the blacksmith.
- Fast as the westerly winds – Fixed an issue where the quest would sometimes fail despite winning the horse race.
- Echoes of the past – Fixed an issue where, after defeating the Foglets, the quest could get stuck and it wouldn’t be possible to talk to Yennefer.
- Wine Wars – Fixed an issue where the quest could not be completed if the player destroyed one of the required monster nests during exploration.
- Fixed an issue where it was not possible to evacuate the ruined inn abandoned location on the south bank of Ard Skellig in certain scenarios.
- Fixed an issue where the Grandmaster Wolves set did not require Mastercrafted items.
- Various minor fixes for quests and cutscenes.
The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt next-gen upgrade will launch on December 14, 2022 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The update is free for all game owners on all these platforms.
Edited by Suryadeepto Sengupta
