The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remaster Review – Still a Masterpiece (PS5)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of gaming’s greatest triumphs. With the new Witcher 3 remaster released, there’s no better time to experience one of the greatest video games ever. To this day, games still cannot capture the sheer size, detail, and gameplay that CD Projekt Red’s masterpiece offers. Games such as Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ring, and Red Dead Redemption 2 are the closest to replicating the experience of The Witcher 3. Some games do certain aspects better than The Witcher 3, such as Elden Ring‘s combat and weapons. But overall, no single game can offer everything The Witcher 3 can give, eight years after its initial release.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is available on PC, PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One & Xbox Series X | S, and Nintendo Switch for $39.99. For the recently released Complete Edition, it is available on PC, PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One & Xbox Series X | S and Nintendo Switch for $49.99. The free remaster is only available for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X. 

Story: The Search for Ciri

Geralt of Rivia is a Witcher, a monster hunter for hire who roams the land in search of jobs after going through a painful mutation. Witcher’s physical abilities are enhanced, including access to simple spells called Signs. But, they suffer from zero emotion, making them unable to become emotionally attached to anyone or anything. However, Geralt is different and becomes a father figure to a princess named Ciri, whom he saves when her kingdom is destroyed. She was trained as a Witcher without the mutations and was raised by Geralt and Yennefer, a sorcerer in love with Geralt. Many years later, Geralt discovers Ciri is missing and is chased by The Wild Hunt, a group of ghosts that gallop across the sky. So, Geralt and Yennefer search across the world to find her, with Geralt doing odd jobs along the way to make ends meet.

Geralt’s adventures throughout the world, doing contracts and searching for Ciri, is filled to the brim with content.

Considering The Witcher 3 is a continuation of a number of books and two previous games, the story is very well told in-game. The plethora of interesting characters met throughout the journey, along with amazing side quests and contracts, keep you engaged throughout. The main quest sends Geralt everywhere. From the bustling town of Novigrad to the islands of Skellige. And with the ability to choose dialogue options, there are several endings based on your choices.

Contracts and Characters

Every tiny town Geralt travels to, as poor as most of them are, offers some of the best-written side content in gaming. Whether you save a town from being transformed into pigs or kill a griffin terrorizing a village, every quest offers something different from the rest. Every choice you make during these quests can alter the results as well.

For example, a village has had boys going missing due to a hunting ritual to become men, where they must make an offering to a monster of the forest. Some of the villagers want to kill the monster, while the elders want to continue worshipping this forest deity, in hopes of it accepting the people again. The choice is either to kill the monster or to do a ritual that will appease the spirit. Whichever you choose, the villagers may end up killing the elders in the town to start a new age, or not. This is just one example of hundreds of side quests and contracts found everywhere, each extremely unique.

Each choice you make can determine the outcome of many lives in The Witcher 3.

Gameplay: Silver and Steel

Most of Geralt’s journey is on horseback or boat, discovering plenty of places on the map. Every place of interest is marked on the map, which is overwhelming with the quantity on the screen. The map can feel like a checklist to visit every location, which becomes a chore for completionists to clear them all out. The islands of Skellige are especially taxing, with smuggler’s caches found everywhere in the ocean. This forces Geralt to travel by boat to all these points, which is an extremely slow way of travel. Traveling on land with Geralt’s horse named Roach is much faster though, and points of interest feel more natural to come across compared to checking the map for everything.

Combat encounters feel like a breeze at times, but considering Geralt is a Witcher, they should be.

Combat is where the game falters slightly. The combat is simple to learn, and after a while becomes very easy at times. Playing the game on the second hardest difficulty felt like a breeze. Dodging a lot with the generous invincibility frames and using the shield Sign to eat an attack when hit made every encounter fairly straightforward. I was even able to tackle monsters much higher level than me without much need for potions.

Oils to enhance your blade’s damage against certain monsters and bombs help greatly as well. Checking the bestiary to check which oils and bombs work well against a monster gives the player the feeling of being a Witcher though. Even though fighting can feel easy at times, Geralt is one of the strongest Witchers so it seems natural that he can beat anything he encounters.

The RPG Elements and Creating Your Witcher

The leveling and RPG system is standard. Every time Geralt levels up from defeating monsters and completing quests, he gains ability points to enhance certain abilities. This allows for a good amount of creativity, as you can enhance Signs to become more magic-focused in combat or buff your physical attacks. Or, you can put points into the alchemy section, which increases the effectiveness of oils, bombs, and potions. There is a lot of variety and most players will have an experience different than others based on what they level up. And if you choose you don’t like a certain build, there are items to reset all your ability points.

The armor and swords have a level requirement. There is light, medium, and heavy armor, which alter combat greatly. Whether you want to feel like a tank or a nimble dodger, there are armor sets to fit any playstyle. This freedom of choice is very welcome as you roleplay whatever type of Witcher you want Geralt to be.

Remaster Additions to Gameplay

The Witcher 3 remaster brings along plenty of welcome quality-of-life changes. CD Projekt Red implemented many mods made for the 2015 game into the remaster, including tweaking the world map and making certain items feel less underperforming. One of the silliest parts of the original game was Geralt’s fall damage, which resulted in more deaths than anything else. The remaster fixed this by increasing the height needed to take damage, and while playing the remaster, I’ve never suffered any fall damage. For a full list of the mods added to the Witcher 3 remaster, check this post from the global community director for CD Projekt Red.

The Witcher 3 remaster’s additions included a photo mode, which is one of the best photo modes ever in a game.

Another welcome addition is Quick Sign Casting. This implementation allows the casting of Signs immediately with two button presses. In 2015, Signs were chosen from a wheel and were cast with one button, so this remaster makes combat much more fluid without any pausing required. The camera has also been changed, with a new over-the-shoulder camera mode option that is identical to the camera placement in God of War. This allows a more cinematic viewing of Geralt’s journey and can be adjusted for combat, walking, and horseback. I went for the new camera mode when walking on foot only, and had the camera zoom out for combat and horseback for better awareness.

Audio and Visuals – Enhanced to Today’s Standard

In 2015, the graphics and music of The Witcher 3 were leagues above the competition. With The Witcher 3 remaster today, although it isn’t as impressive as games such as God of War, it is still up to today’s standard. A performance or graphics mode option also allows for 60 FPS or ray tracing, which can make even the bogs of Velen beautiful to look at. Every character’s models are also enhanced, with Geralt especially looking better than ever. Every environment with the graphics changes is stunning at times. The forest-filled islands of Skellige are particularly breathtaking, with the gorgeous ocean waves adding to the beauty.

The graphical improvements of the Witcher 3 remaster are unbelievable at times with how massive a world there is.

Every character is voice acted, with the main cast especially well done. Geralt’s stone-cold dialogue drives home the “I don’t care” emotion that Witchers portray. Ciri and Yennefer are also standouts, with some emotional scenes that are brought to life by the voice acting. It is distinctly heartbreaking hearing the cries of villagers as you pass through town after they were raided. And if the voice acting is bringing that feeling of emotion to the player, then you know it is good.

The music is as good as it was back in 2015 and did not require any change from the remaster. Traveling through the crowded city or fighting ghouls on the outskirts, every musical piece fits perfectly. The soundtrack has been praised since its original release and will impress anyone who is picking up the game for the first time with The Witcher 3 remaster. 

The Witcher 3 Remaster was reviewed on PS5.