Witcher 3 Remastered Trailer: Every Change Explained

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered is live today, September 29, and CD Projekt Red's own trailer is the fastest way to see what actually changed before you reinstall an eleven-year-old open-world RPG. The clip isn't a marketing reel of pretty screenshots; it cuts between the 2015 original and the remastered build side by side, and the differences it chooses to show tell you exactly where the studio spent its time.

CD Projekt Red's Official Announcement Trailer, first shown at Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 25, 2026, ahead of today's launch.

01What CD Projekt Red's Trailer Actually Shows

The trailer opens on Kaer Morhen and immediately splits the frame between "Original" and "Remastered," a comparison format it repeats through White Orchard, Novigrad, and Skellige. You'll notice the remastered side isn't just sharper textures — draw distances are longer, foliage density is higher, and character models (Geralt and Yennefer both get close-ups) show reworked lighting on skin and hair. CD Projekt Red is framing this as a systems overhaul, not a resolution bump, and the trailer's structure backs that up: roughly two-thirds of its runtime is spent on gameplay footage rather than static visual comparisons.

That framing matters if you're deciding whether to reinstall. A pure visual remaster is easy to skip if you already have fond memories of the original; a combat and camera overhaul is a different pitch entirely, and it's the one CD Projekt Red is actually making here.

02Combat, Camera, and Animation Changes

The most useful seconds in the trailer for returning players are the combat clips. Geralt's sword swings connect with noticeably shorter recovery windows, sign-casting is folded into the same input flow instead of pausing the flow of a fight, and the camera holds a tighter angle during dodges instead of the original's looser framing. CD Projekt RED executive producer Jakub Kutrzuba described the scope of that work directly, saying the team touched animation, camera behavior, enemy behavior, and pathfinding — areas "that weren't touched since we launched it" in 2015, so the remaster would hold up next to a 2026 release.

The griffin fight used in the trailer's midsection is the clearest side-by-side: in the original clip Geralt's roll has a noticeable delay before he can act again, while the remastered clip shows him chaining a dodge straight into a counterattack. It's a small window of frames, but it's the kind of change that's felt every single fight rather than seen once in a cutscene.

03Skill Tree, Mounts, and Photo Mode

Past the combat clips, the trailer briefly shows the reworked skill tree UI, which now groups mutations and combat trees more clearly than the original's cluttered constellation layout. Roach's mount handling gets a few seconds too — turning radius looks tighter and the horse reacts faster to terrain changes in the Skellige galloping shot. The trailer also flashes the expanded Photo Mode and a new transmogrification menu, letting you keep a gear set's stats while wearing the look of any other armor you've unlocked, a quality-of-life option the original never had.

None of these are the kind of change that sells a remaster on its own, but together they explain why CD Projekt Red keeps describing this as a rebuild of "small details" rather than a coat of paint. If you spent hours in the original fiddling with the skill constellation trying to remember which node unlocked which mutation, the reworked layout in the trailer is aimed squarely at that frustration.

04What Carries Over From Your Original Save

If you're worried about losing progress, CD Projekt Red community director Marcin Momot addressed that directly: save files carry over because Remastered installs as an update to the existing game rather than a separate edition, and trophies and achievements remain unlocked. On PlayStation 5 specifically, that also means there's no new platinum trophy to chase — it's the same trophy list, now running on the remastered build. If you're mid-playthrough right now, you can keep going without restarting anything.

05Switch 2, Free DLC, and Platform Details

The trailer closes on platform logos rather than gameplay, which is worth pausing on: Remastered is arriving simultaneously on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S as a free upgrade for existing owners, plus a native Nintendo Switch 2 version for the first time. Every current owner also gets the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine expansions at no extra cost if they didn't already own them, and the update is CD Projekt Red's lead-in to the paid Songs of the Past expansion, due in 2027 and teased separately at the same Gamescom Opening Night Live showcase where this trailer premiered.

The Switch 2 version wasn't shown running in the trailer itself beyond a logo card, so treat its specific performance target as unconfirmed until CD Projekt Red publishes platform-specific footage or patch notes for that build.

How to Jump Into Wild Hunt — Remastered Today

1. 1Launch Steam, GOG Galaxy, Epic Games Store, or your PS5/Xbox library and let The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt download the Remastered update before playing — it replaces the base game rather than installing alongside it.5 min
2. 2Load your existing save from the main menu. CD Projekt Red confirmed saves and trophies/achievements transfer automatically since Remastered is an update, not a new edition.1 min
3. 3If you never bought Hearts of Stone or Blood and Wine, look for them in your library now — both expansions are included free for every current Witcher 3 owner.2 min
4. 4Open the character menu and re-check your mutation and combat trees before continuing a save; the layout changed enough that old muscle memory for node positions won't carry over.5 min
5. 5Visit a blacksmith or armorer and check the new transmog option if you want to keep a strong armor set's stats while wearing a different look.3 min

06Is It Worth Jumping Back In Today?

For anyone who finished Wild Hunt years ago and hasn't touched it since, the trailer makes the strongest case in its combat footage rather than its lighting comparisons — a fight that looks and feels closer to how CD Projekt Red's later games play is a bigger draw than sharper grass. If you never got around to the Blood and Wine expansion, today's update is also the cheapest way to try it, since it's now bundled in for every base-game owner. And because your save carries over, there's no cost to checking the changes for yourself mid-playthrough rather than waiting to start fresh.

“It's so easy to get used to these new improvements that it's hard to go back.”Jakub Kutrzuba, Executive Producer, CD Projekt Red