The Witcher 3 Next-Gen Update Adds Higher-res Textures, Ray Traced GI, DLSS and FSR 2

[btarunr]

CD Projekt RED announced an unexpected content update for the now-7 year old "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt," an immensely popular AAA game that continues to be a favorite among GPU reviewers and PC enthusiasts. The content update, dubbed simply "Next Gen Update," is expected to go live on December 14, 2022. The free update adds several visual enhancements that would normally be marketed as a "Remastered" title, and sold separately.

To begin with, CDPR has increased texture resolutions, and redesigned the foliage to be more realistic. It gets new real-time ray traced global illumination (RT-GI), which should significantly improve the lighting throughout the game. The game also gets super-sampling performance enhancements, namely NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR 2. Thanks to the higher-resolution assets and RT-GI, the graphics settings now include a new preset called "Ultra+," which maxes out everything, including the new assets. The game's UI now offers more camera perspectives. For next-generation consoles, the update adds a new "Performance" mode that runs it at 60 FPS, and a new "Quality" mode that enables RT-GI along with FSR 2.



The trailer for the new content update follows.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[nguyen]

man witcher 3 really spoiled me with RPG, i'm playing Days Gone now and it feel bland as hell compare to W3

 

[Tech_fanatic]

Simply the best RPG ever made

 

[watzupken]

I feel such updates are nice, but not sure how meaningful it will be. The reason is because I would think that most people may not replay the game since its released so many years ago. People who own it may go back to try out the new eye candies, but it will not keep them in the game for long. Also, the enhancements may require beefier PC requirements, which not everyone's PC may meet.

 

[Tech_fanatic]

I feel such updates are nice, but not sure how meaningful it will be. The reason is because I would think that most people may not replay the game since its released so many years ago. People who own it may go back to try out the new eye candies, but it will not keep them in the game for long. Also, the enhancements may require beefier PC requirements, which not everyone's PC may meet.

True it's a 7+ year old game but it still looks as good as any of today's games. Also some people like me still have this game installed on their PCs simply because I love the fact that I can get multiple and unique storyline by choosing different dialogues and quest paths so in theory it can have a number of unique endings which many may not have yet explored. Also it having a modest systems requirements for a modern system won't be that hard to run. Only thing that may hold back some systems is the ray tracing feature and even without it the game won't look dull by any standards.
I have played quite a lot of pc games but few come close to this game in terms of storyline and the beautiful open world it has not to forgot it's 2 vast DLCs ( Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine) both of which can be separate titles on their own.

 

[Hyderz]

the update is pretty nice, unlike that crytek with its crysis remaster with almost no difference...
plus this is free

 

[ixi]

the update is pretty nice, unlike that crytek with its crysis remaster with almost no difference...
plus this is free

If CyberDisaster 2077 wouldnt be disaster this would go for money as well .

From the bright side, yeah, this is for free.

 

[Pumper]

Gonna have to wait for direct comparisons because I don't see any difference by looking just at the new footage.

One thing is certain, it still does not look as good as the infamous pre-drowngrade E3 trailer, fire effects especially.

 

[ratirt]

I wonder what's the hit for performance. I know the game itself is not that demanding at 4k nowadays with current cards but I'm curious how much of a performance hit all those updates will bring.

 

[Luminescent]

I hope it's not an upgrade to sell GPU's, looked at the trailer and it still looks like and old game but with better textures and lighting.
If this sometimes hard to spot next gen upgrade suddenly requires RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XT then it means CD project is getting some Nvidia and AMD sponsoring money.

 

[Jahithber]

I just want the shimmering textures fixed and the see-through foliage glitch.

 

[Crackong]

Let me ask this:

Any improvements in the romance scene ?

 

[Legacy-ZA]

I found it very repetitive, hate me all you want.

 

[gffermari]

I haven’t played yet! I’m one of the very few…
Should I try it, even now that’s 7 years old or forget it and move on to elden ring directly.

 

[64K]

I haven’t played yet! I’m one of the very few…
Should I try it, even now that’s 7 years old or forget it and move on to elden ring directly.

I haven't played it either. No need to hurry at this point. The game will still be in my library when I get around to it.

 

[CGLBESE]

I haven’t played yet! I’m one of the very few…
Should I try it, even now that’s 7 years old or forget it and move on to elden ring directly.

To me, it's one of the best RPGs out there, and none could match its complexity and intensity. I booked 250+ hours to finish it (I'm the maximalist kind of player, I go everywhere and do everything). The only RPG which held me longer was Fallout New Vegas (457 hours for 2 runs and a half).

The game is well-written (but I have to say the final 2-3 quests are a tad less qualitative, to be fully honest), the lore is coherent, complex and rich... what else can I say? If you're the kind of player who loves turning all the stones in an open-world game, and considering that the price is quite low (10$ on Steam for the game + its addons), I'd say to give it a shot...

 

[igralec84]

Ashamed to say i never played any of the Witcher games, even though i like RPGs (more of a Diablo fan).

But i did buy it last year or a couple of years ago, when this update was announced to play it when it's out

 

[Chomiq]

But i did buy it last year or a couple of years ago, when this update was announced to play it when it's out

This update was announced something like two weeks ago.

 

[spnidel]

I see they've also added rt reflections
"improved Screen Space Reflections"
.......oh, nevermind... hope we can turn these off, I hate screen space garbageflections

 

[igralec84]

This update was announced something like two weeks ago.

thewitcher.com | The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is coming to the next generation!

 

[Vayra86]

I hope it's not an upgrade to sell GPU's, looked at the trailer and it still looks like and old game but with better textures and lighting.
If this sometimes hard to spot next gen upgrade suddenly requires RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XT then it means CD project is getting some Nvidia and AMD sponsoring money.

Yeah I was looking REALLY hard to find some advantage out of that RT GI pass but honestly, all I saw was heavily overexposed clothing and Ciri's hair in pure whites, as if DX9's overdone Bloom was back in full glory. We already had god rays in vanilla, so riding through trees isn't any more impressive as it used to be either. In other darker scenes yes, you could identify more 'even' lighting over objects but honestly? Many scenes looked dull or too dark to me. TW3s rasterized version was already so good...

I struggle to see a real improvement here, what stood out most, in between the higher texture resolutions, is that asset level of detail / geometry is not improved. At some points in the trailer that feels more unnatural than it should be; a bit like running WoW at a very high resolution; texture res doesn't match with geometry detail anymore. Too much art for simple shape.

I see they've also added rt reflections
"improved Screen Space Reflections"
.......oh, nevermind... hope we can turn these off, I hate screen space garbageflections

SSR is not RT.

To me, it's one of the best RPGs out there, and none could match its complexity and intensity. I booked 250+ hours to finish it (I'm the maximalist kind of player, I go everywhere and do everything). The only RPG which held me longer was Fallout New Vegas (457 hours for 2 runs and a half).

The game is well-written (but I have to say the final 2-3 quests are a tad less qualitative, to be fully honest), the lore is coherent, complex and rich... what else can I say? If you're the kind of player who loves turning all the stones in an open-world game, and considering that the price is quite low (10$ on Steam for the game + its addons), I'd say to give it a shot...

Tried this one?

Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition

Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition includes the classic Baldur's Gate 2 Complete. More in

www.gog.com

You'll clock 100+ no problem Complexity = TW3 x10 and its a nice prep for part 3 (in dev atm). Writing is legendary, almost every party character you can get is memorable, even more so if you've also played Baldurs Gate 1 (also has an enhanced edition). Combat is clunky, though, unless you mash the pause button every step of the way (or cheat your characters to godhood. Good fun, too).

Let me ask this:

Any improvements in the romance scene ?

RT pubic Hairworks?

 

[CGLBESE]

[snip]

You'll clock 100+ no problem Complexity = TW3 x10 and its a nice prep for part 3 (in dev atm). Writing is legendary, almost every party character you can get is memorable, even more so if you've also played Baldurs Gate 1 (also has an enhanced edition). Combat is clunky, though, unless you mash the pause button every step of the way (or cheat your characters to godhood. Good fun, too).

[snip] (again )

When BG1 came out, I was 16. I gave it a shot but couldn't get into it, unfortunately. I thought about trying again a few years ago, but didn't.

nb. Just saw that both were on sale... I guess I'll have to retry and see if (my) aging helps enjoying the game

 

[trsttte]

If CyberDisaster 2077 wouldnt be disaster this would go for money as well .

Very much doubt it, that hasn't been the philosophy of CDPR, quite the opposite. They also released the DLCs for free when witcher was a massive success (not the expansions, but they're real expansions anyway).

 

[Vayra86]

When BG1 came out, I was 16. I gave it a shot but couldn't get into it, unfortunately. I thought about trying again a few years ago, but didn't.

nb. Just saw that both were on sale... I guess I'll have to retry and see if (my) aging helps enjoying the game

I played the first one when I was 13, I didn't understand the better half of it lol. Replaying it later really opens the game up!

 

[64K]

The Witcher 3 sold well over 40 million copies. It's no wonder that CDPR plans to release 3 more of The Witcher games even though they said years ago that there weren't going to be any new Witcher games. They are already working on the first one.