Final week, CD Projekt Crimson launched The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered for all present consoles and PC platforms. It additionally marked the sport’s debut on Change 2, PS5 Professional, Xbox PC, and Battle.internet. Forward of its launch, I had an opportunity to talk with CD Projekt Crimson’s Senior Publishing Producer Oleg Shatulo concerning the undertaking as an entire, bringing Witcher 3 to Change 2, learnings from the Cyberpunk 2077 Change 2 port, PS5 Professional help, cross save challenges, Xbox Play Wherever help, the opportunity of extra ray tracing options on PS5 Professional, 60fps on Change 2, and way more. Word that this interview was carried out earlier than I performed the remaster.
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Oleg Shatulo:
I’m Oleg, a Senior Publishing Producer at CD PROJEKT RED. I work on and drive totally different initiatives associated to our IPs, together with bringing Cyberpunk 2077 to Nintendo Change 2 and Mac, updates for Cyberpunk 2077, and, most lately, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered.Oleg Shatulo:
It was actually a mix of various elements that got here collectively on the proper time. We’ve all the time needed to maintain pushing our video games technologically, and with the brand new enlargement for The Witcher 3, Songs of the Previous, in growth, we noticed a possibility to go additional and modernize the sport as an entire — each for longtime followers coming again to it and for a brand new viewers experiencing The Witcher 3 for the primary time, greater than a decade after its unique launch.Oleg Shatulo:
From the very starting, our objective was not merely to the touch up the visuals, however to modernize the gameplay as properly — making the expertise smoother for contemporary audiences and addressing a few of the friction gamers could have encountered within the unique, with out altering the sport too drastically or dropping its unique spirit. And to attain each the visible and gameplay enhancements we needed, we additionally needed to considerably rework the technological basis of the engine.
Oleg Shatulo:
After our expertise bringing Cyberpunk 2077 to Nintendo Change 2, bringing The Witcher 3 to the platform felt like a pure subsequent step. We now had {hardware} that gave us considerably extra room to enhance each the visuals and efficiency in comparison with the unique Change model, so we began exploring a extra simple improve fairly early.Then, because the Remastered initiative began taking form, we shortly realized we had a possibility to be way more formidable. As an alternative of treating Change 2 as a separate improve, we may convey it into the broader Remastered imaginative and prescient and ship the identical core set of enhancements throughout all current-generation platforms.
That made the Change 2 model way more thrilling for us — not only a better-performing model of what was already there, however a local model of The Witcher 3 that advantages from the work we’re doing on the sport as an entire.
Oleg Shatulo:
Completely. The Witcher 3 has advanced quite a bit since its unique launch, and we’ve continued bettering it by updates, expansions, new platforms, and the Subsequent-Gen Replace. With Remastered, although, we had a possibility to take a look at the sport way more holistically.Quite than specializing in a handful of particular person quality-of-life options, we went by the expertise as an entire and requested ourselves what we may enhance after greater than a decade of seeing individuals play the sport and listening to their suggestions. That touches all the pieces from fight and character development to controls, UI, and accessibility, alongside the way more apparent visible and technical enhancements.
So even for somebody who performed the latest model of The Witcher 3, there needs to be lots that feels noticeably totally different — whereas nonetheless feeling unmistakably like The Witcher 3.
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Oleg Shatulo:
There’s truly fairly a bit of labor behind one thing that may look quite simple to the participant. We had to ensure the save knowledge stays appropriate throughout totally different variations of the sport, whereas additionally accounting for all the brand new methods and modifications launched within the Remastered model.On the identical time, we needed the transition to really feel as seamless as potential for gamers — you shouldn’t should suppose an excessive amount of about what model you’re coming from or how the underlying methods work. A number of the trouble went into ensuring all the pieces transfers accurately and reliably behind the scenes.
Oleg Shatulo:
Cross-save compatibility works when shifting ahead to the Remastered model, however not within the different route. So that you’ll be capable to convey a save from the present model of The Witcher 3 into Remastered, however when you proceed enjoying and save your progress in Remastered, that save received’t be appropriate with the older model of the sport.Quite a bit has modified beneath the hood, and a few of the gameplay modifications — the revamped Ability Tree being a superb instance — make sustaining save compatibility in each instructions extraordinarily troublesome.
So in your instance, you wouldn’t be capable to take a Remastered PS5 save again to the unique Change model. The Remastered variations throughout supported platforms, nevertheless, can share appropriate saves by cross-progression.
Oleg Shatulo:
We’ve nothing to share right here.Oleg Shatulo:
We’ve nothing to share right here.Oleg Shatulo:
We’ve nothing to share right here.Oleg Shatulo:
The Play Wherever model is basically a standalone PC model of the sport obtainable by the Microsoft Retailer, separate from the variations on Steam, GOG, the Epic Video games Retailer, and Battle.internet. It is going to preserve full characteristic parity with the opposite PC variations, whereas additionally supporting the Play Wherever ecosystem and permitting gamers to maneuver seamlessly between Xbox and PC.
Oleg Shatulo:
Each variations have been developed by us with out direct involvement from Sony or Nintendo builders. That stated, each companions offered priceless enter and help all through the method, significantly when it got here to platform-specific questions and steerage.Commercial. Hold scrolling for extra
Oleg Shatulo:
We’ve nothing to share right here.Oleg Shatulo:
We’ve nothing to share right here.Oleg Shatulo:
Our expertise with Cyberpunk 2077 positively gave us a powerful basis for working with DLSS on Nintendo Change 2. We discovered quite a bit about how one can get probably the most out of the know-how on the {hardware}, and we have been in a position to carry that have into The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered.On the identical time, the 2 video games are fairly totally different technically, so it wasn’t merely a matter of taking what we had carried out for Cyberpunk and making use of it immediately. The Witcher 3 has its personal rendering pipeline, content material, and efficiency traits, and we needed to tune the implementation particularly round these.
Having already gone by that course of with Cyberpunk meant we may begin from a a lot stronger place and deal with discovering the precise stability between picture high quality and efficiency for The Witcher 3.
Oleg Shatulo:
To convey your save from the unique Nintendo Change model to the Nintendo Change 2 model, you’ll want to make use of the CD PROJEKT RED Account cross-progression system. The save received’t be transferred mechanically just by having your unique Change save current on the console.As soon as cross-progression is enabled, you’ll be capable to add your save from the unique Change model and proceed your playthrough in Remastered on Nintendo Change 2.
Oleg Shatulo:
Sustaining efficiency parity with the DX12 model of the Subsequent-Gen launch was one in every of our key priorities all through the undertaking, and that completely consists of gadgets like Steam Deck. Whereas Remastered introduces important visible enhancements, we’ve been very aware of constructing certain these enhancements don’t come on the expense of the expertise on lower-powered PC {hardware}.Oleg Shatulo:
We’ve nothing to share right here.Oleg Shatulo:
As with earlier releases, the sport complies with the relevant legal guidelines and necessities in every area. We haven’t launched any new region-specific content material modifications as a part of the Remastered replace past what was already required for earlier variations of the sport.
Oleg Shatulo:
The Witcher 3 already made fairly in depth use of the DualSense controller with the Subsequent-Gen replace, together with adaptive triggers and detailed haptic suggestions throughout fight, Indicators, exploration and different interactions. We’re carrying that help ahead into Remastered.On Nintendo Change 2, we needed to take full benefit of the extra controller capabilities obtainable on the platform. Alongside HD Rumble 2, Remastered helps mouse controls, gyro aiming, and movement controls.
Finally, the objective on each platforms is to make use of these options the place they genuinely improve the expertise and provides gamers extra methods to work together with the sport.
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Oleg Shatulo:
We’ve nothing to share right here.Oleg Shatulo:
We’ve nothing to share right here.Oleg Shatulo:
For those who’re upgrading and persevering with to play on the identical platform, your saves and achievement or trophy progress will carry over. Remastered is delivered as an replace to the present sport quite than as a separate product, with Nintendo Change 2 being the exception.When utilizing cross-progression to convey a save over from a special platform, nevertheless, achievements and trophies received’t mechanically unlock primarily based on progress in that imported save. They’re tracked individually by every platform, so that you’ll want to fulfill the related necessities on that platform for them to unlock.
Oleg Shatulo:
I might positively suggest the remaster. It preserves all the pieces that made The Witcher 3 particular whereas modernizing it with improved visuals and gameplay enhancements. There are a lot of quality-of-life enhancements in Remastered, too, that make for a extra intuitive, immersive expertise. For those who’ve by no means performed The Witcher 3 earlier than, or performed it for a whole lot of hours, the remaster is actually value diving into.