The Witcher 3 free next-gen update finally has its release date locked in
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The Witcher 3’s next-gen upgrade has been a long time coming, but it’s finally received its long-awaited release date. Best of all? Soon you will be able to play it.
The next-gen update for The Witcher 3, tailor-made for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, was initially confirmed in Q4 2022 after the port was indefinitely delayed much earlier in the year. Thankfully, though, fans won’t have to wait long to see Geralt of Rivia in 4K console glory.
The next-gen update of The Witcher 3 will arrive on December 14, just in time for the Christmas season. A standalone version titled The Witcher 3 – Complete Edition is launching for all modern platforms (except Nintendo Switch). In fact, the update is free to anyone who owns the game on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
The next-gen update will include visual improvements such as ray tracing and fast loading times thanks to the consoles’ fast internal SSDs. There’s also new content inspired by the Netflix adaptation of The Witcher, as well as all previously released DLC, including both expansions.
Don’t have a PS5 or Xbox Series X|S? Fear not, because owners of the last generation are not left behind. CD Projekt RED has confirmed that the base versions of the game, as well as the Nintendo Switch port, will receive “numerous additions and improvements”.
Worth the wait?
The next-gen update for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will arrive on December 14, free for anyone who already owns the game. For more details and gameplay reveal, tune in to REDstreams next week at https://t.co/IpFERTohi9. pic.twitter.com/fg3yfGeNihNov 14, 2022
The Witcher 3 remains an excellent game seven years after its release, but so far console players have not had the most optimal experience. On PS4 and Xbox One, that 30fps framerate cap kept the game from playing as smoothly as it did on PC.
The game’s massive open world didn’t play nice with last-generation systems either. I remember doing my best to keep fast travel to an absolute minimum, knowing it could lead to painfully slow load times.
That’s partly why I’m grateful for the improvements that the current generation of consoles have brought to the table. Hopefully long loading times and unwieldy framerates are now a thing of the past.
But I’m especially curious about The Witcher 3’s approach to ray tracing. CD Projekt RED has experience with the technology and is implementing it in Cyberpunk 2077. It’s certainly not perfect there though, relegated to local light shadows to keep frame rates relatively stable. The Witcher 3 is an older game, meaning hopefully ray tracing won’t strain performance too much when it arrives on current generation systems.