It has been over 24 hours since the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition, and a small group of players have bluntly expressed their dissatisfaction with the upgraded graphics. Enhanced by ray tracing and a reconstructed lighting system, the game introduces numerous visual details. However, not all players are satisfied with the occasionally brighter and less gloomy atmosphere now present in this dark open-world RPG. As one player wrote in a recent negative review on Steam: "The dark fantasy atmosphere is gone; it feels like a Disney game." Another post in the Steam discussion forums was even more critical: "Come on, CDPR, the graphics in the remastered version are terrible."
On the other hand, many returning players are marveling at the stunning graphics in certain scenes of the remaster, widening the divide between these two viewpoints. Some comparison screenshots show that while the remaster improves graphical fidelity, it sacrifices atmospheric color; other screenshots prove that The Witcher 3's visuals have reached their best level ever. Differences in hardware configurations and platforms further complicate the debate. The newly added HDR effects perform excellently on high-end monitors but can look worse on screens that do not support them. PC players with more powerful hardware and richer customization options may have a better experience than those playing the base version on PS5, which has relatively limited graphical settings.
User itagouki shared a set of comparison screenshots in The Witcher subreddit (source: Eurogamer), clearly highlighting the differences between the two versions. The original graphics are generally darker, with fewer details and stronger contrast between light and shadow. The remastered graphics are brighter, with significantly improved clarity and added details, but the overall atmosphere is distinctly different. The lighting in the remaster is more uniform, and with the default bloom effect enabled, the image appears somewhat washed out. Many players attribute the issue to path tracing technology, believing it diminishes the weightiness of The Witcher 3's original artistic style.
"I prefer the original graphics. The contrast is better, highlights are more pronounced, and the overall image has greater depth," wrote itagouki. "I feel the color grading in the remaster is off. The contrast seems flattened, and to compensate, the remaster uses stronger bloom effects, making the entire image brighter and softer." Other comparisons show similar differences. In a video of Geralt standing by the water in Novigrad, the remastered footage appears flatter and more desaturated. "I was about to say the remaster looks beautiful, only to realize the left side was the remastered version," commented one fan.
Undoubtedly, part of this illusion stems from the fact that game clips and screenshots circulating on social media are compressed, detached from the actual dynamic flow of the game, making objective comparison impossible. The visual impression from static screenshots or short videos is completely different from the experience during actual gameplay. So far, I do feel that the remaster has lost some of the original's artistic style and unique atmosphere, but this feeling is not obvious during actual play. Moreover, the remaster features plenty of stunning scenes and moments, such as the lush fields of Skellige, which excel in terms of graphical fidelity, realism, and immersion.
In threads discussing the controversy surrounding the reception and some players' negative reviews on launch day, one user stated: "The graphics aren't actually bad, but for me, this remaster is a complete step back compared to the next-gen update (version 4.04) with ray tracing and max settings enabled. The lighting and tone mapping choices they made seem seriously inconsistent and problematic." Another player offered a sharper critique: "Nvidia HairWorks is broken, ray tracing/path tracing is broken, bloom is broken... even rasterized lighting with ray tracing turned off has tons of issues. This is definitely not what I expect from a 'remaster.' Yes, the gameplay systems and shaders have seen huge improvements, but this lighting... it's just something else."
Whether CD Projekt Red will further optimize and adjust the visual effects of the remastered version, or leave it to players to tweak settings themselves, only time will tell. At least on PC, players who insist on preferring the original visuals can simply go to their Steam library and choose to download an older version of the game instead of the latest remastered edition.