The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered arrives September 29, with a new expansion called Songs of the Past coming in 2027

[Gold Wolf]

CD Projekt Red revealed at Gamescom Opening Night Live this week that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is getting a full Remastered release on September 29, arriving as a completely free upgrade for anyone who already owns the base game on Xbox Series X|S. The remaster brings improved textures across environments, NPCs, and monsters alongside reworked lighting that CD Projekt says delivers dramatically better natural illumination and shadow detail throughout the entire open world, paired with improved ray tracing support.

Beyond the purely visual overhaul, Remastered also reworks how the game actually feels to play. Combat gets more precise and fluid animations, including new brutal finishing moves and an adaptive camera that dynamically zooms in tighter or pulls out wider depending on how many enemies Geralt is actually fighting at once. The skill tree and character progression system has been completely redesigned from the ground up too, with new perks and reworked existing abilities meant to bring the whole system more in line with what a modern RPG audience generally expects going in. Additional features include full transmogrification support for reforging weapon and armor appearances independent of their actual stats, cross platform mod support on Xbox Series X|S, an expanded photo mode, and full Xbox Play Anywhere compatibility across console, PC, and supported handhelds. Anyone who currently owns just the base game will also get both the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine expansions completely free, including players still on the original Xbox One.

The bigger surprise of the night was the reveal of Songs of the Past, a brand new third expansion for The Witcher 3 releasing sometime in 2027 that nobody was really expecting at this point, a decade after the base game originally launched. The story sends Geralt to the previously unseen realm of Letten, homeland of his old friend Dandelion, traveling there to help him with a personal matter only to discover a darkness lurking beneath what initially looks like a peaceful, prosperous land. The expansion introduces entirely new monsters for Geralt to hunt, along with new mutagens and a returning weapon fans of the series will immediately recognize, a chain based weapon that's actually a direct callback to the intro cinematic of the very first Witcher game back in 2007, now becoming a fully playable part of combat for the first time.

Songs of the Past will require and build on top of all the systems introduced in Remastered, meaning anyone wanting the new expansion when it eventually releases will already need to be playing on the updated version of the game. CD Projekt separately confirmed ahead of the show that the actual Witcher 4 remains on track for a 2028 release window, meaning Songs of the Past effectively serves as one more substantial send off for Geralt's specific story arc before the franchise fully moves on to its next protagonist

Geralt Returns in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Songs of the Past and Remasterednews.xbox.com

[DigitalNomad]

Surprised this wasn't leaked at all beforehand given how absolutely nothing stays secret in the games industry these days generally. Feels like it's been a remarkably long while since a truly major, well produced expansion announcement actually landed as a real, honest surprise for this many people simultaneously watching the show live

[Molly4]

Reworking the entire skill tree system from scratch this many years after original launch is plainly a bigger and riskier structural change than most people are probably giving it credit for right now. The original character building system had some quite well known flaws, sure, but it's also deeply familiar territory to millions of existing players who've already spent literally hundreds of hours inside that exact system as it currently stands

[Ruby92]

Confirming Witcher 4 stays on track for 2028 in the same overall announcement as this surprise expansion reveal is a smart, deliberate way to manage fan expectations properly. Keeps people excited and actively engaged with the current Witcher 3 content specifically without anyone mistakenly assuming Songs of the Past is somehow replacing or meaningfully delaying the next mainline entry in the series

[SuperPosition78]

A free upgrade that also throws in both major expansions for anyone who only owns the base game is a distinctly generous move that a lot of publishers simply wouldn't have bothered doing at all. CD Projekt clearly still understands the specific kind of long term goodwill that decision earns them among their own fanbase, and it's exactly the sort of thing that keeps people loyal well past a single purchase

[RomanReigns96]

Curious how Letten as a brand new realm actually connects narratively to the existing lore and geography of the base game's Continent setting. The Witcher 3's world building has always been one of its most consistently praised strengths specifically, so hopefully this new location doesn't feel like it's been randomly bolted on just for the sake of having fresh new content to sell

[Context Kayla]

Full Xbox Play Anywhere support meaning seamless play across console, PC, and handheld devices is clearly becoming the real baseline expectation for any major release at this point in the industry generally, rather than some kind of impressive bonus feature worth specifically calling out anymore. Good that CD Projekt is including it here regardless, just noting how normalized this particular convenience has quietly become across the whole industry lately

[Beta]

The chain weapon callback to the very first Witcher game's intro cinematic is such a lovely, deep cut detail for longtime series fans specifically. Nice reminder that CD Projekt still actually cares about small pieces of franchise continuity like that, rather than just cranking out pure fan service content without any real thought or connective tissue behind it