The next-gen update for The Witcher 3 is free for those who already own the game.
Almost seven years ago, CD Projekt Red released one of the most successful and top-rated role-playing games of all time. At the 14.12.2022 However, it is worth diving into the world of Geralt again, because she gets a new robe.
On this date the big next-gen update for The Witcher 3 will appear, which will significantly modernize the game. Based on what technical innovations it has to offer fresh information from CD Projekt Red together for you, including an overview of the integrated mods.
In the official stream for the next-gen update, ray tracing was only mentioned in connection with global illumination and ambient occlusion. As CD Projekt has now confirmed to us, the technology is also used for reflections and shadows – but only on the PC. This comparison video shows how the new technology looks:
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The Witcher 3 next-gen update analyzed – This is how much the graphics change
The Witcher 3 Next-Gen: New technology at a glance
- Character Models: All main characters, including Geralt of course, cast shadows in high resolution, which was previously only the case in cutscenes. Also fixed hair and armor clipping bugs. Not only humans and witchers can look forward to new textures, the monsters also get a higher resolution, which is based on the
HD Monsters Reworked
-Mod based (see also the mod overview below). CD Projekt Red’s artists added their own enhancements as well. - Environments: Many different innovations are intended to improve the general appearance of the environment. These include new mountain backgrounds, a new weather type with gray skies and various mesh improvements. For example, Kaer Morhen received new mesh models for architecture. Trees and vegetation on the ground are also upgraded.
- Visual effects in the environment: Water effects and their interaction with vegetation have been visibly improved.
- Raytracing: If there’s one feature that separates the current generation from the last, it’s this one. With the new update, global lighting, ambient occlusion, reflections and shadows are rendered more realistically using ray tracing.
- DLSS: Nvidia’s Ki upscaler is used so that you don’t have to compromise on the refresh rate despite the many visual improvements. If you have an RTX 4000 GPU, you can use the latest DLSS version 3.0, otherwise DLSS 2.0 will be used.
- AMD FSR: AMD’s upscaling technology is also included. It works with Radeon graphics cards as well as Nvidia and Intel GPUs.
These mods are firmly integrated into the game
- HD Reworked: This mod has reworked most of the existing models and textures for more detail without changing the original style. The content is 4K textures, high quality mesh models, improvements for the level of detail, as well as a larger view range for rendered objects and shaders that have been specially adapted for the reworked objects.
- HD Monsters Reworked: As already mentioned above, the textures of monsters are revised with this mod. Over 1,000 textures associated with monsters will receive a visual upgrade. In most cases, the original style is retained, but there are also isolated cases where the entire look has been overhauled.
- Nitpicker: This mod fixes various visual bugs such as armor clipping, broken water animations, floating objects and more.
- World Map Fixes: This fixes inconsistencies between the world map and the actual 3D world.
- Immersion & Gameplay Fixes: This mod was created by a former developer and includes various fixes for bugs that affected immersion. In addition, certain skills and objects have been buffed, visually adjusted and other bugs fixed. The development team has been particularly thorough in curating this mod, further tweaking certain elements and leaving out some entirely.
You can look forward to a world with more details and improved vegetation in the next-gen update.
What can console players expect?
Most of the innovations are also available for hobby witchers on the consoles. You only have to do without three things:
- DLSS
- Raytracing-Reflection
- Ray traced shadows
Since both PS5 and Xbox Series consoles use AMD chips, DLSS is not available to them. AMD FSR is used instead. Otherwise, the consoles also benefit from ray tracing, but only in connection with global exposure and ambient occlusion. Ray-traced reflections and shadows are PC exclusives.
Performance and Quality mode for consoles: On the current-gen consoles, you can choose between two graphics modes. Performance mode prioritizes a frame rate of 60 FPS, while Quality mode targets 30 FPS with ray tracing.
In connection with the Xbox Series S, on the other hand, only the 30FPS/60FPS modes are mentioned, without mentioning ray tracing. The new technology is probably not used here.
New features and content: If you want to know not only the technical and graphic innovations, but also which fresh functions such as changed camera perspectives are being added and what additional content is, you can find out in the following article:
The Witcher 3: All information about the next-gen update revealed!
Are you looking forward to the new update and would you therefore play the game again? Or have you not even tried The Witcher 3 and now see the right moment to do so? Write it to us in the comments!
