CD Projekt Red’s free upgrade adds path tracing, a reworked skill tree, and a first-ever launch on Switch 2 and Battle.net.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered launches tomorrow, September 29, as a free upgrade for existing owners on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, unlocking simultaneously worldwide at 10:00 AM UTC. CD Projekt Red is treating it as the definitive edition of Geralt’s 2015 adventure, and it marks two firsts for the game: its debut on Nintendo Switch 2, and its first appearance on Battle.net through a new partnership with Blizzard Entertainment. On PC, players can pick it up through Steam, GOG, the Epic Games Store or Battle.net, and save files carry over so nobody has to restart Geralt’s search for Ciri from scratch.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered on Series S, Quality mode. As crisp as it gets. They say it's 30fps. pic.twitter.com/q40yII3RkR
— QG Reloaded | Gaming News & Tools (@QGReloaded) September 29, 2026
More Than a Coat of Paint
CD Projekt Red says the goal is for the remaster to feel like a 2026 game, and the changes go beyond resolution. The skill tree has been reworked, photo mode gains expanded camera controls, and textures for water, foliage and armor got an upgrade across the board. On PC specifically, the headline additions are path tracing, DLSS 4.5 with Ray Reconstruction, AMD FSR 4 with Frame Generation, Intel XeSS 2.0, ray-traced HairWorks, and DualSense haptic feedback support.
⚔️ Jumping back into the White Wolf’s boots? A DualSense wireless controller gets you the new haptic feedback support the remaster was built around.
Path Tracing Wants Serious Hardware
CD Projekt Red published a full breakdown split into six tiers: Minimum, Recommended, Ultra, RT Minimum, RT Recommended, and Path Tracing. The lower end is modest by 2026 standards, an Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600 with a GTX 1660 handles Recommended settings at 60 FPS. Path tracing is a different story entirely. Running it at 4K and 60 FPS with Frame Generation calls for a Core i9-13900K or Ryzen 7 9800X3D, 24 GB of RAM, and specifically an RTX 5080, no AMD or Intel GPU appears anywhere in that tier. CDPR also dropped official support for Windows 10 and now requires an SSD, so even players with capable GPUs may need to check the rest of their rig.
🖥️ Chasing path tracing at 4K? An RTX 5080 graphics card is the only GPU CD Projekt Red lists for that tier.
Do You Actually Need to Run It Maxed Out?
Probably not. Path tracing models how light bounces around a scene far more accurately than standard ray tracing, which is exactly why it’s so demanding, but the RT Recommended tier already delivers ray tracing at 1440p and 60 FPS on more attainable cards like an RTX 4080 or RX 9070 XT. For most players, especially those returning to Velen, Novigrad and Skellige rather than buying a new PC for the occasion, that middle tier is where the visual upgrade actually pays off without chasing a single flagship card. Path tracing is there for the players who want the showcase version, not a requirement to enjoy the remaster.
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