The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered launched today, September 28, 2026, and the free upgrade has sent players flooding back to CD Projekt Red’s 11-year-old open-world RPG, propelling it to a new concurrent player record on Steam. The remaster, which enhances visuals and refines gameplay, has pushed the game’s peak concurrent players past 120,000 — a significant jump from the under-100,000 mark it reached at its original 2015 release.
The numbers tell a striking story of renewed interest. When The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered first launched on Steam, it peaked at just under 100,000 concurrent players, a figure that was impressive for its time given Steam’s smaller global footprint, particularly in markets like China. Today’s surge dwarfs even the spikes seen during later major sales and the 2023 next-generation update, which also arrived on PC. That console-focused patch brought meaningful improvements but never approached the popularity the remaster is achieving on its first day.
A Vast List of Tweaks and Fixes
The remaster’s improvements are documented in The full list of patch notes, which is extensive and details more than 70 individual adjustments and fixes. The update includes platform-specific enhancements, such as updated graphics modes on PS5 and in-menu mouse controls on Switch. For PC players eyeing the highest settings, CD Projekt Red has published spec sheets recommending a GeForce RTX 5080 and 24GB of RAM to fully max out visual detail and performance.
However, the release has not been entirely smooth. Several players with AMD graphics cards have reported problems due to missing driver support in the new update, a reminder that even a polished remaster can expose lingering hardware compatibility issues.
Visual Upgrades and the Low-Poly Pigeon
Among the most widely praised changes is the improved lighting quality, which has been elevated significantly. As one enthusiast noted while comparing the remaster against the original under the hashtag #TheWitcher3Remastered: “I think the biggest and most obvious visual upgrade is the lighting quality, which has improved significantly. The addition of GTAO and better shading also helps elevate the overall presentation.” The additions of screen-space ambient occlusion and refined shading have clearly resonated with players examining the game’s presentation.
With so many upgrades floating around, some fans grew concerned that the game’s unofficial mascot — the beloved low-poly pigeon — might have been polished away. A low-poly pigeon photograph went viral in 2023, and the meme now lives on in Witcher fans’ hearts alongside images of Geralt in a bathtub. When one player captured a pigeon standing on the ground in the remaster at a new level of detail, players initially freaked out, worried that CD Projekt Red had murdered the low-poly icon.
It was, as it turned out, a false alarm. Street pigeons have always differed from the ones in flight, and CD Projekt Red confirmed that no harm came to the airborne asset.
“The flying low-poly pigeon is there, and will remain there so we don’t upset too many people externally OR internally!”
CD Projekt Red spokesperson, speaking to Kotaku
The journalist confirmed the pigeon remains intact, noting that the models for airborne pigeons differ from those standing on the ground — and that only the grounded model received extra polish.
A Rare Treat on Switch 2
Switch 2 owners, meanwhile, appear to be in for a rare treat. The Witcher 3 was one of the more ambitious ports for the original Switch, though it ran with enough compromises to make it hard to recommend even for those with no other way to play it. The experience on Switch 2, delivered as a free upgrade for owners of the last-gen version, appears to be making good on the original port’s promise — offering a quality experience in line with what players received during the Cyberpunk 2077 port last year.
Those who have played it report decent results that sit comfortably above the base-level experience on PS4 and Xbox One, even if the resolution is modest. As one player observed of the handheld-mode footage: “It’s far superior to the old NS1 version and looks better than the PS4/XB1 versions but does have a pretty low resolution, looks 720p to me.”
Looking Ahead
While the remaster has been largely embraced, CD Projekt Red continues to monitor community feedback, particularly around the AMD driver issues that have surfaced since launch. Players who have already dug into the game report that it still holds up remarkably well after more than a decade, providing plenty of reason to revisit a modern classic.
The journalist, who spent several days with the remaster, described it as “quite good, even if I’m not sold on all of the visual changes,” adding: “Mostly, I’m just grateful to have another good reason to go back and replay a masterpiece.” In-depth impressions are expected in the coming days, as CD Projekt Red works to address the handful of technical complaints that have emerged in the remaster’s opening hours.
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