CD Projekt Red has finally shared gameplay footage of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series versions, also revealing every upgrade coming to the next-gen version of the 2015 RPG.
Revealed during a CD Projekt Red Twitch livestream, a handful of developers outlined the upgraded visuals, brand new quests, cross-progression, and more that’s coming to The Witcher 3 when the update is released on December 14.
CD Projekt Red confirmed that graphics settings will be added to console, letting players choose between 30 frames per second with ray tracing or 60 frames per second without. This will be available on all next-gen consoles including Xbox Series S.
The DLC based on The Witcher Netflix series has also been expanded into its own quest, which rewards the player with the previously announced armour based on Henry Cavill’s version of Geralt. An alternative outfit has also been added for Dandelion, making him look like the Netflix series’ Jaskier.
CD PROJEKT RED announced today that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition will release December 14th, 2022, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Enhanced with the power of next-gen consoles and modern PC hardware in mind, the upcoming release of CD PROJEKT RED’s award-winning role-playing game will feature dozens of visual, performance, and technical enhancements over the original. These include ray tracing support, faster loading times on consoles, as well as a variety of mods integrated into the experience, among many others. Along with new additional content inspired by The Witcher series from Netflix, these will be covered next week in a dedicated REDstreams event on Twitch, where the studio will present gameplay from the next-gen version of the game.
The next-gen version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition will be available for purchase digitally on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, featuring all free DLCs released to date, and both major expansions: Hearts of Stone & Blood and Wine. Moreover, a free next-gen update will be available for everyone who owns any release of the game for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. A physical edition will be released following the initial digital rollout, with a specific date to be announced at a later time.
In addition to the next-gen release, the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch versions of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will also receive an update featuring numerous additions and improvements, as well as the Netflix Witcher-themed additional content. Further details, including the release date, will be announced soon.
For more information about The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, visit the official website, as well as follow the game on Facebook and Twitter.
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Multiple quality-of-life-improvements
CD Projekt Red has also announced that cross-progression is coming to The Witcher 3 next-gen version, meaning players will be able to share their save between PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC.
Haptic feedback has been added to the PS5 version of the game, vibrating the controller in different ways when players clash swords with enemies or cast magic signs.
Speaking of, quality-of-life improvements have also been made regarding magic wielding. The left bumper activation to switch between different signs can now be changed, so when players hold the button down the face buttons change to represent each one. Though slightly more advanced, this addition is intended to let players remain immersed in combat without having to enter a menu.
Other quality-of-life improvements include changes to the map, as a new filter setting cleans up all the pesky question marks that fill each of The Witcher 3’s worlds. This is also intended to add more immersion to the game as players can encounter different events more naturally instead of treating them as a checklist.
The mini-map has been made more dynamic as well as it and on-screen objectives will now disappear as players explore the world on horseback or fight in combat. It can be brought up again with a single button press, however, keeping Geralt from getting lost as he explores The Continent.
CD Projekt Red confirmed that a new Witcher game that would mark the beginning of a new saga was in development in March 2022, and though it’s not officially called The Witcher 4, this one can be thought of as the true next Witcher game.
Later revealed to be codenamed Polaris, the new game won’t be released until 2025 at the earliest as it only entered pre-production in May 2022. It’s also being developed in Unreal Engine 5, a new endeavour for CD Projekt Red that’s essentially requiring them to create everything from the ground-up and establish a new foundation for its games going forward. It will, however, be one of the next two games released by CD Projekt Red.
Another Witcher game, codenamed Sirius, is in development at The Molasses Flood, the developer of The Flame in the Flood and Drake Hollow was bought by CD Projekt Red in October 2021.
The game will have single-player elements like a story and quests but will also blend in multiplayer components, with CD Projekt Red confirming explicitly that players will be able to play together. While Sirius is set in the Witcher universe and is being developed with support from CD Projekt Red, however, it won’t follow the open-world RPG formula of either Polaris or The Witcher 3.
It is instead “targeted at a broader audience”, and while we don’t know exactly what that means, CD Projekt Red’s Michał Nowakowski said it is “definitely not a smaller game” and “definitely not a mobile game.”
Polaris is kicking off another trilogy of traditional Witcher games but these won’t be the only “full-fledged” entries on the horizon. Canis Majoris is the codename for another AAA, story-driven Witcher RPG, but this one is only being published by CD Projekt Red.
A currently unknown developer, led by industry veterans who have worked on previous Witcher games, will instead create a new entry in Unreal Engine 5 using the same toolset as Polaris. CD Projekt Red president and joint CEO Adam Kiciński confirmed that Canis Majoris will arrive after Polaris as a result, meaning it’s also at least three years away, and likely more.
Despite making clear in the past that more Cyberpunk games would be on the way, CD Projekt Red officially confirmed its plans for a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 in October 2022. Codenamed Orion, the game isn’t in development yet as it first requires “further growth of the team”, which CD Projekt Red is taking seriously as it fully expands into the U.S.
CD Projekt Red North America will be the headlining studio behind the development of Orion, and while some talent, including Cyberpunk 2077’s lead quest designer Paweł Sasko is moving over from Poland, a significant wave of hiring is expected as CD Projekt Red’s CFO Piotr Nielubowicz commented that it’s “safe to assume” it will require between 350 to 500 developers to create Orion.
CD Projekt Red has officially begun work on its own original IP after developing games for existing properties for close to 20 years. Very little was said about what this game, codenamed Hadar, will be, but it’s been in consideration for a few years, and official early conceptual work began in late 2021.
Hadar is likely years and years away, however, perhaps even the furthest away of all the CD Projekt Red games that we currently know about, as the foundation of the new setting is still in a creative exploration stage. There’s no suggestion as to what it will be about, but CD Projekt Red has remained committed to its branding of being a studio that creates AAA, story-driven RPGs, meaning Hadar will likely fall into that category.
Some minor accessibility features have been added too, including the ability to change the left-stick to auto sprint (instead of it being a face button prompt) and more subtitle settings.
CD Projekt Red has also addressed a number of quest bugs and performance issues alongside improving various models of foliage and other background features.
For PC, the next-gen update adds ray tracing alongside more extensive customization options and a new photo mode. A new camera angle is also being added for more dramatic and cinematic gameplay. The optional camera sits a little closer to Geralt and off to one side, somewhat akin to The Witcher 3’s original reveal trailer.
The Witcher 3 next-gen update release is happening soon
The next-gen update was originally expected to be released last year before being delayed twice, with third-party studio Saber Interactive originally developing the new version. CD Projekt Red took over itself in April 2022, though it persisted that the game was “not in development hell”.
A Q4 date was set back in May but many were still worried given the two previous delays, not to mention the impending end of the year, but CD Projekt Red will seemingly meet its target having announced the December date earlier in November.
