The Witcher 3 Remastered Releases to Rave Reviews, Breaks 6-Year Record on Steam
Way back in 2015, CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launched to rave reviews, charting an impressive 92% on review aggregate site Metacritic. 11 years later, the fantasy action-role playing game’s new remaster has somehow surpassed that score, achieving a 94%. But the near-universal critical acclaim is just the beginning, as it seems Geralt’s return has also slashed a Steam record.
On Valve’s digital platform – where it currently has almost a quarter-million “Overwhelmingly Positive” user reviews – the game is being voraciously consumed to the tune of over 120,000 players. That whopping concurrent count bests the original’s release by over 27,000 players, while also crushing similar surges seen around the debut of Netflix’s The Witcher series.
Of course, those numbers don’t account for anyone braving the Continent on other platforms, from Epic Games Store and GOG to Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and even the Switch 2. This isn’t the first Wild Hunt release to put fans back behind Geralt’s twin blades in a big way, as its content-packed 2022 “Complete Edition” – which also ported the RPG hit to next-gen consoles – saw fans, old and new, flocking to the fantasy franchise.
But the new remaster, available now, is by far the game’s most appealing, definitive version. Unlike many remastered titles, Wild Hunt doesn’t merely sport a pretty new coat of polygons, but numerous more advanced visual updates, performance upgrades, overhauled systems and mechanics, and enough quality-of-life improvements to fill Roach’s saddlebags. All that, and the remaster is free to existing owners of the game.
Wild Hunt‘s record-breaking streak will likely build more momentum, too, as the titular beast-slayer’s return is sure to attract additional players as the weekend approaches. Toss in the fact that the series has been building plenty of buzz lately, with multiple new projects in the pipeline, and newcomers, especially, are diving in to see what all the hype is about.
To be sure, it seems CD Projekt Red’s sprawling fantasy series is a fan-pleasing gift that keeps on giving, with an ambitious story expansion – dubbed Songs of the Past – due to hit next year, over a decade after its base game launched. Of course, we can’t leave out the wickedly anticipated next mainline entry, The Witcher IV. Due sometime in 2028, the sequel will put Ciri in the protagonist role, while kicking off a brand new trilogy.
Beyond that, a built-from-the-ground-up remake of the original 2007 The Witcher is in the works at developer Fool’s Theory, the same studio co-developing Songs of the Past. And if all that wasn’t enough to satisfy your thirst for creature-carving fantasy adventuring, the fifth and final season of the Netflix series is due to hit in 2027. So whether you’ve climbed into the bathtub as Geralt before, or you’re just getting your boots wet in the record-breaking remaster, it’s a pretty good time to be a fan of the grey-maned monster hunter.