Recently, foreign media outlet wccftech released a new gameplay demo of "The Witcher 3: Remake," showcasing 4K + path tracing visuals. Scene lighting has noticeably improved, but combat feel and character models still appear dated. Let's take a look at the video!
Gameplay Demo:
The remake launches today (September 29) with version number 5.00. The game received a next-gen update in December 2022, adding ray tracing and higher-resolution textures; this update precedes the planned new expansion, "Song of the Past," scheduled for release in 2027. The existing "Hearts of Stone" and "Blood and Wine" expansions are also included in the base game.
Changes announced by CDPR include upgrades to environment, character, and monster textures, as well as adjustments to vegetation, lighting, and rendering. The PC version adds path tracing and supports NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction; the PS5 Pro version can achieve 60 FPS with ray tracing enabled using PSSR.
From the PC preview, path tracing improves lighting both indoors and outdoors, with indoor areas showing particularly noticeable differences. Vegetation and sign effects have also been enhanced, with Igni standing out. In contrast, character models have only seen minor improvements and still look dated up close, while water effects haven't kept pace with other visual upgrades.
Testers used a GeForce RTX 5090 and Ryzen 7 9800X3D to conduct a custom route test within Novigrad at 4K resolution, maximum settings, DLSS Quality mode, and Dynamic Multi-Frame Generation, achieving an average frame rate of 161.7 FPS. These figures are specific to this configuration and test route and do not represent performance on other hardware.
In terms of gameplay, the remake revamps the skill tree and introduces new actions, finishers, and an adaptive camera; Geralt and Roach's movement animations, Witcher Senses, and the UI have also been adjusted. Testers felt the new camera better handles combat scenarios, but the impact feedback when hitting enemies still feels lacking, meaning the core combat feel hasn't fundamentally changed.
Video Screenshots:
