What exactly makes the next gen version of The Witcher 3 new and different? You can find the seven most important differences here.
The Witcher 3 is back! With the latest Next Gen update for PC and consoles, the great role-playing game is not only technically and graphically polished, there is even some new content and playful upgrades. But which of them are particularly important? And what exactly makes the significant difference to the original?
In this article, we list the seven biggest changes in The Witcher 3’s next-gen update and what’s new with them. We mainly refer to the information from the official patch notes that CD Projekt Red shared for the release. But don’t worry: You can also read about the secret changes in the new version of the role-playing game soon on GameStar.
The 7 most important differences
New weapons, armor, a quest and more
Let’s get to the content first: The Witcher 3 has received a handful of new content with its free next-gen upgrade that was not previously available in the game. These are the following weapons, armor and even a quest:
- New weapon: Swords of the Nine-Tails Vixen
- New armor: Western White Tiger Armor
- New armor: Dol-Blanth
- New Gwent Map: roach
- New side quest:
In the shadow of the eternal fire
– inspired by the Netflix series - Alternative looks for Delphiniums and the Nilfgaardian armor sets – also inspired by the Netflix series The Witcher
By the way, if you’re wondering how to start the new quest and what exactly awaits you, we can of course help. Just take a look at the following guide:
The Witcher 3 Next Gen
So you start the new quest – that’s in it
Gameplay changes in detail
At the same time, the gameplay of The Witcher 3 has been improved in detail by the Next Gen update. Specifically, the changes are as follows:
- Geralt and Ciri’s fall damage taken has been reduced so falling from greater heights does not immediately result in screen death.
- A new option allows characters to be changed and cast faster.
- The same applies to the wheel menu, which you use to select bombs, bolts and pocket items
- Herbs can be picked without an additional loot window and so with just one button press.
- If you’re playing with the controller, you can only push the left stick forward slightly to slow down. Sprinting is now also possible by pressing the left stick.
- A new map filter allows certain symbols such as question marks or boats to be hidden so that the map is not so cluttered.
- A new option in the game settings dynamically hides the minimap and quest objectives so players can see more of their surroundings.
- A new option in controller settings can make locking on a target unaffected by camera flipping.
- The font size of subtitles, NPC conversations and dialogue options can be adjusted in the options under Video and HUD Customization.
New camera angles for more dynamic fights
Thanks to a new camera setting, you can make The Witcher 3’s battles look a little more intense and directly cinematic. The camera is much closer to the action, which of course also harbors dangers: opponents can more easily surprise you from behind.
The best way to find out whether the new perspective is something for you is to play it yourself. You can access this in the options under Gameplay and camera distance
and Exploration/Combat/Riding
. The following gameplay clip shows how cinematic this can look:
link to Twitter content
Ultra+
for the PC version
Both the PC and console versions will benefit from the next-gen upgrade. For example, there are better sky textures, new weather effects, revised graphics and lighting, and the vegetation and water bodies have also been tweaked.
For PC gamers, however, the new graphics option should be the most important Ultra+
to be interesting. According to the official patch notes, this affects the following points:
- Number of background characters
- Quality of shadows, textures, soil and water
- level of detail
- view range
- Support for DLSS3 with compatible hardware
By the way: You can read about how well the next-gen upgrade from The Witcher 3 performed in our technology check in the following article:
The Witcher 3 Next Gen
Tech check: Incredibly pretty and incredibly hardware-hungry
4K textures for the character models
The textures of the most important figures – such as Geralt, Yennefer, Triss, Ciri, Eredin and Co. – have been scaled up to 4K. This makes the characters look a whole tick sharper not only in cutscenes, but also in the regular game (don’t get me wrong).
At the same time, the main characters also cast high-resolution shadows outside of cutscenes, while attacking a clipping bug that caused hair and other objects to protrude through the armor.
The Witcher 3 modding community has been extremely busy over the last few years. CD Projekt Red has now grabbed a few of them for the next-gen version of the role-playing game in order to improve the graphics and game quality – specifically aspects such as environmental or cutscenes, sidewalks or decorative elements.
- The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project by HalkHogan
- HD Monsters Reworked by Denroth
- Immersive Real-time Cutscenes by teiji25
- Nitpicker’s Patch by chuckcash
- World Map Fixes by Terg500
In the official patch notes, CD PR lists the following, maybe you will recognize one or the other of them. If you are also interested in which 15 popular mods are officially running with the next gen version of The Witcher 3, you can find out more here:
The Witcher 3 Next Gen
These 15 popular mods also run with the upgrade
The new photo mode
Last but not least, players can also let off steam with a new photo mode in the game world of The Witcher 3. After Cyberpunk 2077 was also equipped with one, the option is now also available in the next gen version of Geralt’s RPG. Have you already managed to take one or two snapshots?
10:52
All improvements of the next-gen update of Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in the video overview
The most important information about The Witcher 3 Next Gen
The next gen upgrade for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been since December 14, 2022 available for PC and consoles. If you already owned the role-playing game before, you can upgrade for free. You can find out when our test for the PC version will be available here. The official patch notes for the release can be found on page 2 of this article. By the way, you can find out more about the future of the Witcher series at the following link:
Cyberpunk 2 and new witcher trilogy
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Have you already played into the next gen version of The Witcher 3? If so, what is your initial conclusion? Let us know in the comments!
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