CD Projekt Red released Hotfix 5.00c for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered on October 1, 2026. One line in the patch notes matters more than the rest for players who never wanted the remaster in the first place.
The studio says it "Fixed an issue where it wasn't possible to launch the Classic (1.32) version of the game." Rolling back was meant to work from day one. For the first two days after the remaster landed, it did not.
The Remastered upgrade arrived on September 29 as a free update, a 45GB download on most platforms. It came as an update to the same storefront entry rather than a separate release, which is why the older build has to be reached another way.
How to get the Classic version back
The route back is a beta branch, not a second purchase and not a launcher toggle. CD Projekt Red's support page gives the Steam steps directly.
Open the Steam Library, right-click The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and select Properties. Go to BETAS and select CLASSIC, after which the studio says "the game will update automatically".
Selecting None in that same menu returns the install to the current build. On GOG Galaxy the equivalent sits under Manage Installation and then Configure, where Beta Channels can be set to Classic, and Disabled puts it back.
Epic Games Store owners get nothing. CD Projekt Red states that "it isn't possible to revert to an earlier version of the game" there, because "the platform only provides access to the latest available version".
The choice is exclusive rather than additive. Switching branches re-downloads the build in place, so Classic and Remastered do not sit on disk side by side.
Classic means Patch 1.32, a build dated November 7, 2018. A separate Next-Gen branch has been reported to remain selectable, though CD Projekt Red's support article documents only the Classic option.
What else Hotfix 5.00c changes
Saving and loading now works for players whose Documents folder path contains special characters. That fault had blocked both actions outright.
Voiceover audio no longer drops well below the rest of the mix after a pass through the pause menu tabs. The studio also reverted a change that it says "caused significant performance and visual issues with HairWorks enabled for some users".
Velen picks up visual adjustments covering bloom, vegetation lighting, saturation and path tracing lighting. A marketing telemetry setting that failed to save properly has been corrected as well.
The announcement is scoped to the Steam version, and no download size was published. The same notes have been reported to cover GOG, Epic Games Store, Battle.net and Xbox Play Anywhere.
Why anyone would want the older build
CD Projekt Red answers that itself. Its Remastered FAQ pairs the two questions in one entry: "What if my PC doesn't fulfill the requirements? What if I want to play the previous version of the game?"
The answer is the revert instructions. Hardware is the stated reason, not nostalgia.
The published Remastered minimum asks for 64-bit Windows 11, a Core i5-8400 or Ryzen 5 2600, 12GB of RAM and 60GB of SSD space. Graphics start at a GTX 1660, Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB or Arc A580.
Recommended moves to a Core i7-8700K or Ryzen 5 3600X with 16GB of RAM and an RTX 2060 Super, RX 6600 XT or Arc B580. The path tracing tier climbs far above that, and the studio separately expected the remaster to run well on Steam Deck.
There is no Classic tier to measure against. The Steam listing and the GOG catalogue now show only the Remastered version, so CD Projekt Red no longer publishes requirements for 1.32 anywhere.
Mods are the other reason players give, and here the studio has said less. Remastered "Added Cross Platform Mod Support, an in-game tool powered by mod.io", according to its own feature announcement, but no Classic versus Remastered compatibility list has been published.
Saves, support and what is still open
CD Projekt Red says existing saves work in the remaster, with one caveat. "Due to the overhaul of the skill system, your skills will be reset," the FAQ reads, while earned achievements carry over.
Going the other way is unaddressed. Neither the FAQ nor the revert page says whether a save made in Remastered loads in 1.32, and neither carries a save warning at all.
Backing up save files before switching branches is the obvious precaution. The studio is blunt about the trade, writing that "only the latest version of the game is fully supported, as it contains all the latest improvements, fixes and changes".
A CD Projekt Red producer said before launch that the remaster makes it hard to go back to the original. Hotfix 5.00c at least makes going back possible again, and the studio closed its notes by saying it continues to investigate reported issues.
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