CD Projekt RED executive producer Jakub Kutrzuba says The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered changes the game enough that the original is hard to return to. "It's so easy to get used to these new improvements that it's hard to go back," he said in a recent interview.
His point is that this remaster is not a graphics pass. Kutrzuba describes a project that reaches into animation, gameplay and the small details of how The Witcher 3 plays.
The remaster launches on September 29, 2026, as "a free upgrade for existing The Witcher 3 owners on qualifying platforms," according to CD Projekt RED's announcement. It arrives the same day on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Battle.net and, for the first time, as a native Nintendo Switch 2 version.
Kutrzuba says the remaster goes further than the next-gen update
Kutrzuba separated Remastered from the next-gen update that CD Projekt RED shipped a few years ago. That update was "driven by the new generation of consoles," and it was "very much technical oriented," he said.
"With the remaster, it is even bigger and it's also quite heavy, maybe even heavier on the technical level," Kutrzuba said. What matters more, in his words, is "touching these aspects of the game which weren't touched since we launched it."
He named those areas directly: "I'm talking about the animation. I'm talking about the gameplay. I'm talking about the quality of life, how you actually play the game."
The target is a modern baseline rather than a nostalgia piece. "We wanted to make it [comparable] with any other game which is launching these days," Kutrzuba said.
What CD Projekt RED says is changing in Remastered
According to the interview, the team made changes wherever it "identified the potential for frustration," as long as the fix did not require "rebuilding the game from scratch," as the interview put it. The interview also described the work as touching the camera, enemy behavior in combat and pathfinding, though that list was not presented as Kutrzuba's own words.
CD Projekt RED's own list is longer. It promises "upgraded visuals, enhanced combat, improved traversal and movement, new witcher signs effects, revamped mount handling," and more, according to the announcement. The same list includes "enhanced monster behaviors, a skill tree revamp, transmogrification, expanded photo mode, new finishers" and other changes.
The official remaster page adds an adaptive camera system, cross-platform mod support and improved foliage, lighting and ray tracing. Digital Citizen has already covered how the remaster is expected to perform on Steam Deck.
Remastered is co-developed with Yigsoft, "a team with a proven track record working on The Witcher 3 already," according to CD Projekt RED. The company's H1 2026 report confirms that Remastered includes both Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.
Base-game owners did not have to wait for those expansions. CD Projekt RED made them free for existing owners on August 25, 2026, a change that also reached The Witcher 3 on Xbox.
Songs of the Past follows in 2027
Remastered also sets up Songs of the Past, a paid expansion due in 2027 on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2. It adds a new region called Letten and is co-developed with Fool's Theory, a studio with "leadership made up of Witcher 3 veterans," according to CD Projekt RED.
Buying the expansion on Battle.net unlocks a Geralt-inspired skin in Diablo 4, according to the announcement. CD Projekt RED calls the plan its "strongest ever publishing lineup," with The Witcher 4 planned for 2028.
What happens to the original version of The Witcher 3
Kutrzuba's comment raises an obvious question for players who prefer the 2015 feel. It has been reported that PC players will be able to roll back to the legacy build after launch, but CD Projekt RED has not published a remaster-specific confirmation.
The company's support page on reverting to an earlier version already describes a Classic branch on Steam and GOG Galaxy, and says Epic Games Store users cannot revert. That page predates the remaster, and it states that "only the latest version of the game is fully supported" on PC.
CD Projekt RED has not published a price for Remastered for new buyers, or a price for Songs of the Past. It also has not detailed what the camera and pathfinding work involves in practice, so the full picture may only emerge once the remaster ships on September 29.
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