CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has received a significant remaster that improves gameplay and graphics, and is completely free to existing owners. The legendary action RPG, originally released in 2015, has been given a 4K visual polish, sharpened combat, and a rebalanced experience, while preserving the original game's skeleton.
From Distributor to World-Class Studio
Founded in Poland in the mid-1990s, CD Projekt Red began as a video game distributor before creating its own titles and establishing GOG.com. The turning point came when they were working on the PC version of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and its publisher, Interplay, hit financial difficulties, cancelling the project. Instead of discarding their work, CD Projekt turned it into the first Witcher game, based on the novels of Andrzej Sapkowski.
That was followed in 2011 by The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings, which was well received, but it was The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt four years later that established them as a world-class studio. At the time, third-person action role-players were well-established, but the scale, depth, and far-reaching consequences of your actions remain elusive qualities more than a decade later.
Geralt's Organic World and Improved Combat
The Witcher 3 follows Geralt of Rivia, an aging monster hunter using magic and medieval weaponry. His young ward, Ciri, is targeted by the Wild Hunt, a supernatural cadre intent on capturing her. Geralt combines his central task with Witcher contracts and detailed quest lines from locals, which often turn into epic multi-part engagements requiring difficult moral choices.
What sets the game apart is how organic its world seems, including unintended outcomes from good intentions and characters that behave like real people. The remaster retains all excellent vocal performances, with Geralt's Slavic dourness and dry sarcasm intact. Fighting, never the game's strongest suit, is improved: magical signs are easier to cast, combat feels nimbler, and added finishing moves bring fresh flourish. Monsters have more aggression, with tweaked AI for a crisper world.
New Extras and Persistent Bugs
There's a new quest riffing on the Witcher TV show, plus familiar armour and weapons. Skill trees are completely reworked, and photo mode has extra options. Both DLC expansions, Hearts Of Stone and Blood And Wine, are included, adding over a dozen hours each to the vast base game.
However, all the old bugs and glitches are also present. In the opening section, the griffin's head was missing as often seen in the PlayStation 4 version, fixed by fast travelling to White Orchard. Music volume had to be lowered below 50% to hear dialogue properly, and Roach, Geralt's horse, still provides unintentional comedy with peculiar behaviour.
Despite the changes, the remaster arrives completely free for all existing owners of The Witcher 3, conforming to CD Projekt Red's renowned generosity. It's still an absolutely amazing game, with more intense sunsets and bucolic idylls brought to life, but it's the characters that stay with you. If you loved it before, this is like coming home; if you missed it, it's an excellent excuse to find out what the fuss was about, especially with a sequel on the horizon.
