In recent years, since the official adoption of the RE Engine, CAPCOM's reputation among players has improved year by year. By this year, there is even a hint of "Make CAPCOM Great Again."
With the release of several acclaimed titles such as "Resident Evil Requiem," "Qualia Existence," and "Onimusha: Way of the Sword," the player community is already debating how many awards TGA should reserve for CAPCOM this year.
Gamers always have straightforward logic. If a company consistently delivers good titles, players can temporarily forgive CAPCOM's past "rehashing" behavior and put aside the derogatory nickname "Kapiao" (a pun on CAPCOM and "whore")—
But only temporarily, after all, the countless versions of "Resident Evil 4" and the joke about "how many heads Shinji Mikami has" are still deeply ingrained in people's minds.
But then again, CAPCOM's current prosperity might partly be due to its "rehashing old games" strategy. Moreover, CAPCOM shouldn't bear all the blame for this practice.
In the gaming industry, repackaging and upscaling old games for resale is standard business practice—even wealthy landlords run low on grain, and upscaling requires labor costs. Players are not entirely opposed to "HD Remasters"; revisiting nostalgic games with current display technology is indeed something some players are willing to pay for.
If developers are willing to add more content beyond a "HD Remaster," providing players with a different experience from the original, they can earn the "Shut up and take my money" response. In recent years, many publishers have chosen to release next-gen versions of older titles, supported by this simple market logic, such as the upcoming "Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires Remastered."
It is against this backdrop that CDPR's "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered Edition" becomes such a shocking work.
First, it is free.
This is not a separately sold game version, unlike titles such as "Resident Evil 4 Ultimate HD Edition." "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered Edition" is a free update; as long as you own the original, you will automatically receive it.
But it's not just a free update; they are also giving you gifts. "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" has two famous DLCs, "Blood and Wine" and "Hearts of Stone." If players only own the base game without these two DLCs, CDPR will gift them both upon receiving the free update for "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered Edition"—
Not only is it free, but they are practically paying you to play it.
Secondly, and more importantly—
The content provided in this free update is so extensive that not charging for it feels almost excessive.
An interesting aspect of the translation is that the original English title uses "Remastered," which is usually translated as "复刻版" (Remastered Edition), but the official Chinese translation uses "重制版" (Remake Edition). This might be a mistranslation, or perhaps the localization team recognized that this version of "The Witcher 3" somewhat exceeds the scope of a typical "Remaster."
The changes in "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered Edition" have nearly overhauled the entire gameplay experience of the original, covering core areas that directly affect play, such as graphics, combat, movement, horses, and the skill tree.
Graphical upgrades go without saying, and this is actually the area with the least difference in "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered Edition." Since "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" already received a graphical upgrade in 2022, this version builds upon the 2022 edition by optimizing textures for scenes, NPCs, and monsters, and improving vegetation rendering. The more significant visual changes involve reworked lighting and rendering, along with the addition of ray tracing support.
What is truly worth mentioning is the change in specific game content.
Over the past decade, there have been new content releases and graphical upgrades, but CDPR never truly changed the core gameplay systems of "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt." However, in "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered Edition," CDPR has explicitly stated their intention to make the combat experience more "modern, fluid, and precise."
In actual gameplay, the specific change is a significant improvement in Geralt's combat feel—one of the most complained-about issues in the original. In "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered Edition," player inputs are reflected more accurately in Geralt's actions, and his movement and combat animations connect more naturally. Compared to the original's tendency to "slide past enemies," the remastered combat feels much more "solid."
On another note, Geralt has received many new "finisher animations." In the game's trailer, you can see a finisher derived from the Aard sign. These new finishers will be integrated into combat as "highlight moments," with corresponding changes to movement, distance, camera angles, and visual effects. This represents a significant optimization of the combat system in "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered Edition."
Alongside the combat changes, CDPR has adjusted the combat camera and enemy AI. The original used a fixed third-person perspective, which made viewing awkward when facing multiple enemies due to frequent changes in distance. In "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered Edition," the combat camera automatically adjusts based on the number and distance of enemies, allowing players to focus better on the fight. Meanwhile, optimizations to enemy AI will further enhance combat performance.
Equally important as the combat changes is the adjustment to the skill tree in "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered Edition."
The skill tree in the original was a very plain and straightforward progression system, with skills from different trees laid out linearly. In the remastered version, the skill tree has been redesigned, including structural adjustments and changes to certain skills. CDPR states that the skill tree in "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered Edition" will more significantly influence the player's combat style, offering a character growth experience more aligned with modern RPGs. Additionally, adjusting character builds in the mid-to-late game will become more flexible and intuitive.
"Modernization" is the core theme of "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered Edition." Based on information released by CDPR, their ultimate goal with this version is to make the gameplay experience of this 2015 original align as closely as possible with 2026 gaming standards.
Therefore, besides reconstructing core content, detailed modifications covering various aspects of gameplay are also crucial to achieving their goals.
For example, the rework of the riding system for "Roach."
Besides movement and combat, one of the most frequent actions players perform in "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" is "horse riding." In the remastered version, the coordination between the player and "Roach" has seen a noticeable improvement. Mounting and dismounting are smoother, and performing various actions while riding is more seamless. When running through forests and mountains, "Roach" is less likely to crash into trees, which is truly touching.
In addition, there is a long list of modernization updates such as "new transmog system," "expanded photo mode," "immersive meditation added," and "revamped quest tracking system." CDPR has provided a comprehensive update list, basically including Everythinggj one could ask for.
They even included features players didn't expect.
For example, "cross-platform MOD support" and "motion controls for the Switch 2 version."
In terms of core content changes, players can clearly see that what CDPR has delivered is far from a perfunctory update with some HD textures slapped on. They have essentially turned "The Witcher 3" into something resembling a new title, allowing players to experience next-gen features in this eleven-year-old game.
It's hard to explain what decision-making process led CDPR to do this.
The new DLC, "The Witcher 3: Old Tunes," is about to launch. CDPR wants players to revisit the original story and refresh their muscle memory before the DLC releases. This reason is reasonable and intuitive. However, to achieve this goal, CDPR didn't need to go through the trouble of remaking the game. The next-gen upgrade they performed in 2022 already made the game sufficient for current player demands. After the trailer for "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered Edition" was released, many players in the comments section didn't even think a remake was necessary. Adding a DLC after so many years is already seen by most as a situation where "you can't ask more from CDPR."
Yet they still produced this version, offering it as a completely free update bundled with two DLCs, charging players nothing. Aside from the usual platitude of "striving to provide a better experience for players," there really is no better explanation.
CDPR seems to never care much if their actions cause them to "lose money."
Over the past decade, the reason "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" became "the highest mountain and the longest river" (a Chinese idiom meaning the pinnacle of achievement) in the hearts of domestic players is not only due to the game's high quality but also largely because of CDPR's "money doesn't matter" operational strategy.
Admittedly, their technical prowess is not superior, and the bug-ridden launch version once caused the game's reputation to hit rock bottom. However, they genuinely brought the game back to the pantheon through a long-term update plan that spared no expense.
Not only is the gameplay highly praised, but its low price and frequent deep discounts have also made it "the top choice for countless young gamers."
As for the two DLCs released later, each offers content volume far exceeding the standard scale expected of "DLCs." Honestly, the combined content is enough for CDPR to release a "Witcher 4," yet their prices are incredibly cheap.
In the trailer for "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered Edition" released on Bilibili, one danmu (bullet comment) perfectly captures players' attitude: "So you can get all that for just 50 yuan?"
No one would expect an open-world blockbuster released in 2015 to receive a free graphical upgrade, followed by a free remastered edition bundled with two DLCs. This is simply not something players could anticipate in a normal timeline.
CDPR is indeed a developer that constantly surprises players.
However, these might not be what players care about most. The urgent question now is—
How can one obtain a brain that hasn't played "The Witcher 3"?
