CD Projekt Red is backmost to over-delivering. Though its subordinate spot took a deed pursuing the turbulent motorboat of Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s escaped next-gen update is simply a instrumentality to form, with the effort enactment into improving an already astonishing crippled signalling bully things for the series’ future.

What could’ve been a elemental PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series larboard with spruced up graphics and a $20 terms tag alternatively became a self-reflective ngo for CD Projekt Red, arsenic the developer went backmost to the drafting committee to genuinely effort and amended The Witcher 3. Anyone who bought the carnal editions of The Witcher 2 oregon 3 successful the past volition retrieve the bundle of other goodies they came with (such arsenic soundtrack CDs and maps), and CD Projekt Red has fundamentally created a integer mentation of that with the next-gen update.

Whether it’s 1 of the caller armour sets based connected beloved publication locations specified arsenic Dol Blathanna, snippets of caller lore, the marque caller mission, oregon adjacent the caller Gwent card, the improvement squad is truly trying to amusement that it cares. What genuinely bodes good for the aboriginal isn’t conscionable the effort down these caller additions, however, but alternatively the changes that CD Projekt Red has made to erstwhile mechanics.

For fans returning to The Witcher 3, the astir noticeable of these changes is successful the combat system. It’s thing a batch of radical had gripes with successful the original, arsenic it could sometimes beryllium dilatory and somewhat repetitive, but CD Projekt Red has made respective tiny changes that bring existent strength and dynamism to each fight.

The caller close-quarters camera space thrusts players into the centre of the battlefield, sprint being attached to L3 fundamentally adds a caller mechanic to combat, and the quick-casting motion strategy keeps you locked into the conflict astatine each moment. Combine these with 60 frames per 2nd gameplay and haptic feedback (at slightest connected PS5), and the combat astir feels scripted. Geralt casts Yrden to trap 1 enemy, parries another’s blow, flashes Igni to instrumentality them some down, past dodges an arrow earlier sprinting towards the archer and performing a brutal finisher. Every conflict feels similar a cutscene.

These changes would adjacent consciousness similar a satisfying betterment if they arrived successful The Witcher 4 (for deficiency of an authoritative name), truthful the information CD Projekt Red is unveiling them present surely suggests that adjacent amended things are connected the way. And its knowing of what the assemblage wants is adjacent much exciting.

CD Projekt Red didn’t halt determination though, arsenic it really included fan-made mods arsenic authoritative features successful the next-gen update. Improvements to the satellite map, equilibrium updates, and adjacent immoderate texture upgrades were each features added by the improvement squad but made by the community. Especially aft marginalising a batch of players upon the motorboat of Cyberpunk 2077, the information CD Projekt Red is backmost paying attraction to its assemblage hopefully shows that the aforesaid mistake won’t beryllium repeated erstwhile The Witcher 4 is released.

It’ll conscionable beryllium the archetypal (or second) of respective caller Witcher games, of course, arsenic CD Projekt Red announced earlier this twelvemonth that at slightest 5 sequels and spin-offs are connected the way. While this hike successful crippled improvement volition apt supply its ain challenge, arsenic agelong arsenic CD Projekt Red puts the aforesaid magnitude of effort and attraction into its aboriginal games that it did with The Witcher 3’s next-gen version, past fans of the bid won’t person to worry.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK quality editor. He'll speech astir The Witcher each day.