The Witcher 3 was always a pretty game. When it released in 2015, it set the bar not just for its game design, an RPG benchmark that critics and gamers alike would compare newer RPGs against for the years to come, but also visually. It's an incredibly attractive game already, and today's Next-Gen update simply adds to that beauty.
The ray tracing improvements are stellar, with global illumination, ambient occlusion, shadows and reflections all getting an upgrade. These lighting improvements just make each scene look more and more detailed, more realistic, and straight up stunning.
I didn't think it would make that much of a difference at first in motion, especially as the lighting in The Witcher 3 was already pretty stunning. However, for all the visual goodies, and they are so good, even on console, the real star of this update comes with the gameplay improvements CD Projekt RED have made to the RPG.
Dat Camera Tho
One of the biggest improvements noticeably immediately is the new camera placement. Originally the camera in The Witcher 3 followed the action straight on from behind. It wasn't bad per se, I actually quite liked the placement as I find myself zooming out to center my avatar on the camera in MMOs all the time. But for a single-player RPG like this one, having a more dynamic camera has started to become the norm.
Thankfully, CDPR realized this and implemented a new dynamic camera in the RPG, placing you closer to the action in a more over-the-shoulder view versus a more pulled-back perspective. As a result, everything feels more cinematic, but also by extension, modern. The camera reacts more dynamically in combat too, making it easier to see and react to everything around me. Before it felt the camera would get caught on itself, and it made it hard to sweep around and react accordingly.
Now, especially when locked onto a target, the camera in The Witcher 3 stays more focused on the action and keeps me in the action. While riding Roach, the camera being pulled in closer makes each hooffall felt even more, especially at a gallop. I do appreciate that the camera is toggleable in the menu, too, meaning that is players want the original presentation, it's still there. But I'm pretty sure this new camera will be my new mainstay moving forward.
New Casting Mechanics
One of the major friction points, especially in combat, came down to choosing a sign to cast and then casting it. On controller it meant holding down the left shoulder button, navigating to the sign you want, selecting it, and then casting, all while trying to not die yourself during combat. Even with the action slowdown that would occur when you were in this radial menu, it felt bad, and has always felt bad.
Thankfully, CDPR seemingly agreed. Now the casting is faster, with you simply pulling the right trigger and using a face button to cast the sign you want. It's infinitely faster and more accessible, making combat fluid and more dynamic. I honestly am not sure why it took seven years to get this into the RPG, but it make such a dramatic difference.
During my early fights against drowners, wolves, and eventually the White Orchard Griffin, being able to quickly fire off a Quen shield or blast away enemies with Ard without fumbling through a Radial menu each time to do so was a blast, pardon the pun, and I honestly can't imagine playing without it now.
DLSS 3
This isn't a feature that everyone playing The Witcher 3 will be able to utilize, but it's one that fundamentally makes all the visual goodies worth using. Raytracing is expensive on your GPU, even when you're rocking the all-powerful RTX 4090 Founder's Edition. Without DLSS turned on, or frame generation, even the 4090 struggles to maintain 60fps with everything turned to the RT Ultra preset.
It's expensive and taxing.
But this is why technologies like Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling, or DLSS, as well as AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution exist. To make these ray tracing applications easier on the GPU to handle. And they work, too, with The Witcher 3 looking fantastic no matter which version of upscaling technology you're using.
However, it's DLSS 3's frame generation that is the game changer here. We spoke about frame generation and the improvements it can make to a game in our RTX 4090, RTX 4080 and even as a part of our recent AMD RX 7900 XTX and XT reviews. Those extra frames are clutch when making gameplay smoother, especially at high refresh rates. Playing on the RTX 4090 and using my 4K, 120Hz display, DLSS Quality sees me averaging around 60-75fps, which isn't bad by any stretch. But it felt juttery, and at times somewhat unresponsive.
However, flipping on DLSS frame generation in the menu shoots that framerate up to around 117-120, kicks on Nvidia Reflex and all of a sudden the RPG feels much more responsive smooth as result. A concern of mine was ghosting, which we've seen in some DLSS 3 enabled frames as the AI is attempting to predict what pixels need to be there for the generated frame. However, in my few hours of testing, I've not noticed anything out of the ordinary. The overall image does take a softer look, but that is the cost of using an upscaler more than anything else. By and large, in motion it looks amazing.
For AMD fans, I really hope they get their frame generation feature with FSR 3.0 worked out soon, as it completely changes how The Witcher 3 feels for the better. Here's also to the hope that like FSR 2.0, AMD will ensure frame gen works across their backlog of cards, and maybe even their competition as well so everyone can enjoy this same type of technology powering one of the best RPGs made.
Cross Platform Progression
This is a biggie for me. I own The Witcher 3 across every platform it has been released on, and one of my biggest pet peeves was needing to have a new save for each. Cross progression solves this, meaning I can take my Witcher 3 PC save that is close to the end of the RPG to my PlayStation 5 and continue where I left off instead of having two completely different instances of the game. I want more and more RPGS especially to do this. These games are long enough as it is, and lacking cross progression can help mitigate the feeling that I'm wasting my time playing it on a new platform compared to my main save.
Thankfully too, the PlayStation 5 version is really, really good, with the Performance and Ray Tracing modes in the menu letting me tailor my experience based on my mood that day. If I want the RT goodies on console, I just suffer through 30 fps, though I'm sure as I continue to rack up minutes and hours in the new update I'll see myself using the Performance mode more and more. I need me that framerate, y'all.
All in all, the next-gen update took a while by CD Projekt Red, but it feels worth that wait. As a long time fan of the series, I'm incredibly glad that seven years later this incredible game is still getting the love it deserves from not just the fans, but the developers eager to make their already masterpiece-worthy game even better. The improvements, from the obvious visual ones to the gameplay changes make The Witcher 3 feel like a brand new game. And that is for the better.
