Everything new in the Witcher 3 Next Gen update

Anyone who owns The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt has just gotten an update to version 4.0 (the Nintendo Switch update is coming soon). There’s a lot new in this update, from graphical improvements, tweaks to address some quality of life issues, nods to the Netflix series, and even a new quest.

In this Witcher 3 Next Gen update guide, we’ll tell you everything you’ll get with the 4.0 update.

Updated graphics

The most obvious thing you’ll see with the Next Gen update to The Witcher 3 is updated graphics. The resolutions of textures on monsters, Geralt, major NPCs, some vegetation, and even the sky (and weather) have gotten increases.

Image: CD Projekt Red via Polygon

There are some updates to just generally tidy up the graphics as well, with fixes as simple as addressing hair clipping through armor. The 4.0 update also includes the Nitpicker’s Patch that addresses a variety of visual bugs from the previous releases.

The new release brings some raytracing to the world lighting for PC and PS5 users. PC users now also have the ability to turn on raytraced reflections and shadows.

Netflix content

Beyond just 4K textures, one character and an NPC army have alternate appearances to reflect their portrayal in the Witcher Netflix series — both Dandelion (Jasker) and the Nilfgaardian Army get (optional) updates.

There’s also a new level 15 side quest, In The Eternal Fire’s Shadow, in Velen. The reward for completing it is diagrams for the Forgotten Wolf School Witcher Gear armor — armor inspired by the series. After that, there’s also a Forgotten Wolf School Gear scavenger hunt to get the diagrams for a matching steel and silver sword.

Cross-saving

No matter where you play (or how many versions of The Witcher 3 you own), you’ll be able to continue the same save now. Your most recent game will upload to the cloud and be linked to your GOG account.

Image: CD Projekt Red

Additionally, once you’re logged in, you’ll get the Dol Blathanna gear — the Sword of a Thousand Flowers steel and White Widow of the Valley of Flowers silver swords, and the Thousand Flowers armor, gauntlets, trousers, and boots — and the White Tiger of the West gear — the Nine-Tailed Vixen steel and silver swords, and the White Tiger of the West armor, vambraces, trousers, and boots.

You’ll need to head to the Royal Palace in Vizima — where you meet up with Yennifer — to claim your new gear.

Quality of Life and mod integration

Beyond the visual updates, the biggest changes to The Witcher 3 come from integrating community-made mods like the Full Combat Rebalance 3. This leads to a ton of general quality of life improvements that cover everything from increasing the height before fall damage kicks in, adding quick sign casting (instead of from a wheel), instant herb looting, and a whole bunch of lingering bug fixes.

There are some new options for the camera as well, with a choice for a camera that’s closer to Geralt and more dynamic camera during gameplay, as well as a photo mode.