The Witcher 3 remaster: Release date, UK launch time and what to expect from the free update — Gaming

As if making a new DLC for a game from 2015 wasn’t enough, CD Projekt RED has seen it fit to announce a huge upgrade too, with the free Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt – Remastered update being one of the standouts at Gamescom 2026 Opening Night Live.

The fact that it was such big news against a slew of new titles just goes to show how beloved The Witcher 3 is by fans, and how long of a tail it has, something no doubt helped by The Witcher Netflix series.

To think Geralt actor Doug Cockle was being coy with us in an interview!

It’s also the best Witcher content we can expect for a hot minute, as CD Projekt RED also recently announced The Witcher 4 release window, which is still some time away.

It’s not the only Witcher that’s on the horizon either, as The Witcher Season 5 has reportedly been delayed, and there’s little mention made of The Witcher remake anywhere.

But we can hardly complain considering all the free Geralt goodies we’re getting — as for what freebies to expect, and when they'll be available, read on!

When is The Witcher 3 remaster release date?

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered free update release date is 29 September 2026.

If it’s your first time playing the game, then you’ll be glad to know that the two prior DLCs, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, are also free. GTA 6 better watch out!

What is the UK launch time for The Witcher 3 remaster?

Here in the UK, The Witcher 3 remaster will launch at 11am BST on Tuesday 29 September.

If you're based elsewhere, here's a handy list:

USA: 3am PDT or 6am EDTa
UK: 11am BST
Central Europe: 12pm CEST
Brazil: 7am BRT
Japan: 7pm JST
Australia: 8pm AEST
Mexico: 4am CST
Ukraine: 1pm EEST
South Africa: 12pm SAST

What’s new in The Witcher 3 free update?

View oEmbed on the source website

The trailer goes over most of what’s new in The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt – Remastered, though it does add "and so much more!" after revealing a big long list, so there might be a few things we don’t know about.

Below is everything brought up in the trailer for your convenience:

Upgraded visuals
Enhanced combat
Improved travel and movement
New Witcher signs FX
Revamped mount handling
Enhanced monster behaviours
Skill tree revamp
Transmogrification
Expanded photo mode
New finishers
Cross platform mod support
Immersive meditation
Refined animations
New quest tracking
UI improvements
Looting Rework
Refreshed motion blur
New accessibility features
Updates textures
Foliage shading rework
HDR improvements
GTAO (Game-Time Ambient Occlusion)
Improved menu navigation
Ray tracing improvements
Global lighting rework
New shading model
Subsurface scattering
New tone mapper
PlayStation 5 Pro support
Xbox Play Anywhere support
Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive features
Nvidia DLSS 4.5
Intel XeSS 2.0
Path tracing on PC
Ray Reconstruction on PC
Ray-traced hair
Native DX12
Rendering parallelisation

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