The Witcher 3 Remastered Is Still An Unfinished Masterpiece

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Back in 1550, Italian master and historian Giorgio Vasari coined the term “non finito” (unfinished) to capture a certain deliberate incompleteness in select sculptures by Michelangelo Buonarroti. Over the ensuing centuries, critics and fellow artists came to view this raw quality not as a flaw, but as the very heartbeat of Michelangelo’s brilliance. As the French painter Eugène Delacroix famously observed in 1853, those unpolished facets somehow make the completed sections resonate far more deeply.

Stepping back into The Witcher 3 evokes that exact sentiment. The game has never been pristine or thoroughly scrubbed of rough edges, yet a decade after its initial launch, we continue to celebrate the synergy of its unfinished pieces as a pinnacle of role-playing history. And rightly so. The remastered version, arriving September 29 across all platforms, seeks to polish away some of the grit that became just as defining to the experience as its breathtaking landscapes, sweeping narrative, and unforgettable cast.

The Witcher 3 Remastered still feels unfinished — and that’s good

After sinking roughly half a dozen hours into the PlayStation 5 version, I am relieved to report that The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Remastered remains entirely, unapologetically itself. The extensive checklist of tweaks and modernizations delivered by developer CD Projekt Red is certainly appreciated, but they don’t magically transform the experience into a sterile, ultra-modern showcase of seamless design. The Witcher 3 stays true to its 2015 roots with all its charming imperfections intact, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My very first instinct upon downloading the free upgrade (for existing owners) was to seek out a tucked-away side quest that has lingered in my memory for years: “Little Red.” While easy to overlook amid the game’s massive scope, wandering into the humble hamlet of Yantra—the fateful meeting spot with Gaunter O’Dimm at the dawn of the Hearts of Stone expansion—leads you straight into a local grievance between villagers and a crew of outlaws led by the eponymous Little Red. A local resident named Berthram has flagged the bandits to the witch hunters due to Little Red’s alleged ties to lycanthropy, and retribution is looming.

Geralt can choose to protect the townsfolk and battle the outlaws—including Little Red in her terrifying werewolf shape—or step aside and let her deal with Berthram, a resolution I gladly picked after uncovering his hidden malice. Yet, rather than treating players to a cinematic sequence detailing Berthram’s demise, the game abruptly transitions to Little Red tossing coins your way for keeping out of her affairs. Berthram receives no additional dialogue whatsoever, whether before or after the confrontation. While I knew CD Projekt Red never promised a narrative overhaul of old quests, I secretly hoped for a few tailored cutscenes to patch up these minor storytelling chasms.

This perfectly captures the distinct structural DNA of The Witcher 3: numerous pieces feel less thoroughly completed and more like impressionistic brushstrokes. Occasionally, those gaps feel more glaring, as seen in the notoriously temperamental “Gangs of Novigrad” questline. Other times, it boils down to narrative arcs like “Brothers in Arms” simply underdelivering on their heavy build-up. The Remastered overhaul leaves these foundational quests untouched, directing its attention instead toward technical upgrades encompassing visual fidelity, fluid animations, responsive combat, improved movement, smoother mount handling, UI redesigns, and enhanced enemy AI.

The Witcher 3 Remastered overhauls abilities and fixes combat (kinda)

Combat and character growth have rarely been counted among the crown jewels of The Witcher 3. While this update provides noticeable upgrades to both, creating a welcome divergence from the vanilla experience, it ultimately stops short of revolutionizing the core loop. Anyone who detested the original combat mechanics will likely find their opinion unchanged. Even so, there is genuine satisfaction in watching the camera track Geralt’s movements dynamically as he pirouettes across blood-soaked terrain—a fundamental rhythm that remains the core of the gameplay loop.

Geralt’s progression tree has been restructured into a more cohesive layout, successfully ironing out the clunky horizontal skill trees of the past. It’s a sweeping overhaul that prunes away obsolete perks in favor of streamlined abilities that unlock much quicker. Without diving into technical minutiae, players will undoubtedly enjoy exploring this fresh configuration. That being said, it doesn’t entirely erase the inherent stiffness that plagued the original game; because the progression leans so heavily into combat, the abilities remain constrained by the repetitive nature of the swordplay itself.

Naturally, graphical fidelity serves as the centerpiece of this modernized release. CD Projekt Red capitalizes on the foundations of the 2022 Ray Tracing patch, gifting the continent with a breathtaking aesthetic upgrade that shines brightest when running the 60 fps Ray Tracing setting. Even on standard hardware, the visual enhancements are a joy to behold, presenting themselves through subtle touches like ambient shadows and reactive foliage, alongside flashier improvements to sign casting, parries, and brutal execution animations.

CD Projekt Red is doing what Square Enix doesn’t

Naturally, the burning question on everyone’s lips is simple: Does Geralt still maneuver like an over-caffeinated marionette when out of combat? The answer is a qualified yes. General responsiveness and fluidity have received major boosts, yet Geralt occasionally lurches forward as though brimming with an excess of volatile witcher elixirs. Conversely, Roach has clearly been showered with affection by the development crew, rendering horseback travel far less of an absolute nightmare. I managed to navigate the cobblestone alleyways of Beauclair at breakneck speed trailing Anna Henrietta without a single calamitous collision—a feat that honestly deserves its own in-game trophy.

The Witcher 3 is still a 2015 game

If The Witcher 3 were launched today from scratch, complete with upgraded graphics and every quality-of-life patch included in this remaster, I strongly suspect it would buckle under the scrutiny of modern gaming discourse. (One need only look at the online reactions greeting early gameplay snippets to confirm this.) It speaks volumes about the pervasive cynicism infecting modern internet culture. Social media users frequently seem more invested in tearing games apart online than actually sitting down to enjoy them—though, to be fair, I grasp the sentiment. Back in 2015, I could comfortably invest hours every single day losing myself within the digital vistas of The Witcher 3, Skyrim, or Fallout 4. Today, finding the necessary window to play and document these thoughts feels like pulling off one of Geralt’s evasive rolls. And it’s not merely a byproduct of growing older; today’s thirty-somethings undoubtedly face an even tighter squeeze on their free time than I did back then.

Regrettably, the hyper-scrutinized ecosystem surrounding modern game development means we may rarely, if ever, witness the charming grace of Michelangelo’s “unfinished” manifest in a blockbuster project quite like it did in The Witcher 3 back in 2015. This remastered release delivers a wealth of welcome enhancements, but thankfully leaves the foundational character of the game untouched. The Witcher 3’s distinct flaws allow its true brilliance to shine all the brighter. They represent those deeply human limitations that infuse genuine art with individuality and enduring resonance.

If the original adventure failed to capture your imagination, The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Remastered won’t suddenly convert you. For everyone else, however, it’s time to hone your blades and brew your concoctions: the Path is waiting.

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Source: Polygon