Witcher 3 Next Gen update

A Witcherin’ we shall go!

May 19th 2015 was a day that many of us, especially me, couldn’t wait for. Witcher 3 finally, we hoped, on the way and it promised to be something absolutely mind-blowing from all the trailers and hype that surrounded it.

Originally slated for late 2014, it was pushed back to 24th Feb 2015 and then finally the 19th of May.

We were in for a treat though, because the game went on to sell boatloads and make CDPR into a beloved company, with many adoring fans and a lot of goodwill. Not only did they bring out patches, Quality of Life changes, but they also dropped 16 DLCs in the launch month that were free.

A mix of gear, quests, and even a whole New Game+ appeared in the days following its highly successful launch. You only have to Google the game to see the kinds of sales figures it managed to achieve and the reactions of gamers and fans alike.

Then CDPR dropped two huge Expansion packs, one in 2015 – aka Hearts of Stone and the massive new area of Toussaint in 2016 with the capstone to Geralt’s journey – the incredible story of Blood & Wine.

A few patches followed all of this, and then sadly, CDPR shifted gears to work on a new thing – which we later found out was Cyberpunk 2077. The less said about that game’s hype, and launch, the better, suffice it to say it’s better now, but it was a mess.

This is all about Witcher 3 though, and something we hoped would happen, but never really thought it would. We certainly didn’t think it would be as expansive as what we got either.

What am I talking about?

This year’s Next-Gen and PC update to the Witcher 3 of course! Which originally came out of the blue alongside 2077’s Next-Gen update (finally).

Witcher 3 Next-Gen is a free update for those who own the game already on the Next-Gen consoles, and PC. It’s massive, and packed with so many Quality-of-Life changes, under the hood tweaks, and fixes that the patch notes CDPR released are basically only half if not less, of the whole story.

The too-long don’t-read synopsis of this is: There has never been a better time to get Witcher 3 and play it if you never have, especially if you have a good PC rig and/or a Next-Gen console to hand.

Old-Gen consoles don’t get the full range of bells and whistles, but they do get the patch and the non Next-Gen (Xbox Series, and PS5) tweaks and fixes.

Next-Gen Geralt

If you want to see the Next-Gen version graphically, and find out what the bells and whistles are which drive that whole thing, you can find Digital Foundry on YouTube and soak in lots of very technical and entertaining videos about the processes CDPR use to bring the game world to life, and how they enriched the whole thing.

https://www.youtube.com/@DigitalFoundry

If you want to see a complete list of everything that’s changed, and you can’t really since the patch notes are 100s of fixes long already and there’s tons more hidden away, you can follow this link to the official patch page further down this writeup.

I’m here to talk about how the Next-Gen update feels to play, as a fan of the Witcher franchise, and the three games (2 and 3 more than 1) I thought it was about time that I gave my opinion about this update since enough time has passed to warrant it now.

The version I owned was the Xbox one, so, when the update launched on December the 14th my game automatically updated and I was able to carry on right where I left off. They also enabled cross-saves between platforms, so you can always carry on where you left off!

I only play on the Series X though, so I was excited to see what I was about to get.

I was not disappointed, and after a brief flirtation with the 4K 30fps Ray Tracing Mode with all the bells and whistles (so pretty) I went for the 60fps option, because at a loss of graphical quality (it still looks stunning) you’re getting more responsive controls and a very fluid gameplay experience on Next-Gen.

Just to give you an idea what they did for the consoles:

Next-Gen Console-Specific

• Improved the overall quality of graphics on next-gen consoles. Including enhanced textures, improved fidelity, shadow quality, greater draw distances and crowd density. 

• Ray Tracing Mode — provides ray-traced global illumination and ambient occlusion with dynamic resolution scaling targeting 30 FPS for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

• Performance Mode — ensures smoother gameplay targeting 60 FPS with dynamic resolution scaling for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

• The Xbox Series S version has no ray-tracing features. Quality Mode provides increased resolution and better image fidelity targeting 30 FPS, whereas Performance Mode targets 60 FPS and prioritizes smoother gameplay over visual quality.

• Implemented the use of adaptive triggers and haptic feedback on PS5 DualSense controllers.

• Added Activity Cards for PS5.

Want to know more?: https://www.thewitcher.com/en/news/47105/next-gen-update-list-of-changes

It’s impressive to say the least, but the 4k RT mode isn’t without problems at the moment on the console version. There’s a delay with the update to the real time lighting, so when you enter a very dark area, ahead of you there’s daylight effects in caves and tunnels. I know Witchers can see in the dark in the lore, but that’s just a little bit too much (I know this is a bug though).

There’s a lot of stuff in this update, and it’d take a War & Peace size review to cover it all, so I’ll just pick out a few things from the update page:

Quality of Life Changes

• Added a Quick Sign Casting option. It allows signs to be switched and cast without opening the radial menu. You can find it in Options → Gameplay.

• Added a new default map filter. The new filter hides some icons such as "?" and boat icons in order to reduce icon clutter on the map. These icons can be turned back on with the “All” map mode toggle.

• Adjusted the minimum height for fall damage, allowing the player to survive falls from higher heights.

• Herbs can now be instantly looted with a single interaction – without the additional loot window.

• Added options that dynamically hide the minimap and quest objectives when not in combat or using Witcher senses. You can find it in Options → Video → HUD Configuration → Hide minimap during Exploration and Hide objectives during Exploration.

• Added the option to slow walk when playing with a controller. You can now slow walk by lightly pushing the left stick forward.

• Added an alternative sprint mode option when playing with a controller. It's activated by tapping the left stick. You can find it in Options → Control Settings.

• Added an option to make target-lock unaffected by camera inversion. You can find it in Options → Control Settings.

• Improved the radial menu so bombs, bolts and pocket items can now be switched dynamically without opening the inventory.

• Added the option to scale the font size for subtitles, NPC chatter and dialogue choices. You can find it in Options → Video → HUD Configuration.

• Added various other small fixes, tweaks, and quality of life changes, including a few secrets to be discovered by players.

Suffice it to say, this makes the game feel brand-new and old ground takes on a new lease of life, especially with the visual updates and complete changes they introduced to the game. Broken quests have been fixed, and new quests have been added.

A tie-in quest to the Witcher TV show on Netflix, a bunch of My Rewards armour and weapons if you sign up, and more await in the shiny new version of the Witcher 3. The game just feels so much better to play now, and it wasn’t too shabby before.

Combat is even more dynamic and visceral, the updates to the game’s many systems and the quality changes all combine nigh-on seamlessly. There are still a few issues, which CDPR are sorting out but there’ll be a patch or two which brings this stuff into line.

It’s the fact that they updated Witcher 3 after all this time, with many old devs coming back and the other members working on things between 2077.

On a Series X it looks absolutely fantastic and runs extremely well, and with my 60fps mode enabled I’m having a blast once more exploring all these places.

Add to this CDPR’s work alongside modders of the game, to bring a lot of popular mods into Witcher 3 base game, integrating them smoothly, and seamlessly, you have an old game with a new lease of life and one which can still boast the moniker of: Best RPG/Game ever made.

If you have not played it, get a copy, get the Next-Gen update and enjoy an incredible story, impressive new visuals, and a fantastic experience which will soak 100s of hours of game time for you. You won’t notice it; you’ll be too busy pulled into this mature fantasy adventure where you can make impactful choices that change the narrative of the story and truly influence the ending.

Oh and if you want a laugh, just enable the Nilfgardian Armour visual from the options since it’s the ‘ballsack’ armour from the first series of Netflix Witcher.

You’re welcome!

Stay on the Path, Witchers.