How to cross-save in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s “next-gen” update to version 4.0 includes visual updates, gameplay tweaks, and some new armor. Just as exciting, though, is the new cross-save feature.

Our Witcher 3 cross-save guide will tell you everything you need to know to take your save anywhere.

How to cross-save in The Witcher 3’s next-gen update

No matter how many versions of The Witcher 3 you own, you’ll be able to continue using the same save file everywhere now.

Note that this currently applies only to The Witcher 3 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC (Epic Games Store/GOG/Origin/Steam), Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. As of Dec. 22, developer CD Projekt Red has not released the v4.0 update on Nintendo Switch. However, because cross-save functionality previously existed between the Switch and PC versions, it remains possible to do a one-way transfer from Switch to PC via Steam Cloud or GOG.

All you need to do is sign in to your GOG account from within The Witcher 3, which you can do from the save or load menus — press the left trigger on console, and the C key on PC, to access cross-progression. Once you’re logged in, you’ll get the Dol Blathanna and White Tiger of the West gear sets.

Image: CD Projekt Red

Connecting your GOG account to your game won’t upload any of your existing save files, so you have two options: You can manually create a new save, or do something in the game that will autosave (like using fast travel). In both cases, this new save — created in The Witcher 3 v4.0, after enabling cross-save — will automatically get synced to the cloud. From there, you can access that save on any other platform, once you sign in to the same GOG account there.

There are some caveats here. First, you can only have one cloud save active on any given platform, so you won’t be cross-platform save-scumming. It’s easy to tell which file is the active cloud save — you’ll see a cloud icon on it.

More importantly, there are restrictions on compatibility between save files from different releases of the game: Namely, you should have the same content installed on the two platforms that you’re switching between. You can also go from a version of the game with less content to one with more content, but not the other way around.

To be specific, we’re talking about The Witcher 3’s downloadable content. There are two major expansions for the game, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, along with more than 15 other DLC packs. The game was rereleased in 2016 with all of its add-ons in a bundle known as the Complete Edition or Game of the Year Edition (the name varies depending on region). Because that package was a separate product from the stand-alone game, its save files were not originally compatible with save files from the base game. The next-gen update finally makes them compatible, regardless of platform. However, we did run into an issue that prevented us from using cross-save.

At the time that The Witcher 3’s v4.0 update was released, we owned the game and its Expansion Pass (which grants access to both expansions) on Xbox One, whereas on PC, we only owned the game itself. We were able to take a PC save and load it in the Xbox One version of the game, but when we tried to bring an Xbox One save to PC, the game gave us an error message saying, “You are missing the following downloadable content required to open this save,” and listing Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.

As such, we went ahead and purchased the Expansion Pass on PC, bringing that version of the game to content parity with our Xbox One copy. Doing so allowed us to, at long last, import our Xbox One save file into the PC version. This is perhaps a weird edge case, but you might be in the same boat as us, so it’s something to be aware of.

Will The Witcher 3 cross-save transfer my achievements or trophies?

No, unfortunately. These are platform-specific (achievements on Xbox, trophies on PlayStation, etc.), so they won’t make the jump with a cross-platform save transfer, CD Projekt Red global community director Marcin Momot confirmed on Twitter. That’s true even when staying within a console family — the PS5 version is a free upgrade if you own The Witcher 3 on PS4, but each version has its own set of trophies.

Update (Dec. 22): We’ve fleshed out this guide with additional information, as well as details on the state of the Nintendo Switch version’s cross-save support.

Update (Dec. 23): We’ve gone through the process of bringing our Windows PC copy of The Witcher 3 to content parity with our Xbox One copy, allowing us to take full advantage of the cross-save functionality. We’ve updated this guide accordingly.