Games Happy

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered is out this week and I’ve had an opportunity to take a look at the Steam model pre-release on my Steam Decks to see the way it appears and feels in contrast with the unique recreation additionally on Steam Deck. Given the massive graphics improve to foliage, new gameplay modifications, changes to paint grading, and extra with a rise in system necessities, I used to be curious to see how it might run. Be aware that CD Projekt Pink has acknowledged new AMD drivers might be launched so I did not trouble testing it on my ROG Ally Z1 Excessive as of this writing. I’ll revisit this so as to add extra impressions from the PC port, my closing The Witcher 3 Remastered Steam Deck really useful settings, and extra.

The Witcher 3 Remastered Steam Deck impressions

Once I first booted up The Witcher 3 Remastered on Steam Deck, I used to be aggravated to see the sport’s launcher nonetheless current. After clicking play and loading my most-recent save file, I instantly observed modifications past simply the visuals. The digicam on the horse, normal exploration digicam, animations throughout fight, fight itself, the menus, UI fonts, and extra have been tweaked or modified within the remaster. You possibly can change the digicam positions or angles again utilizing the in-game settings in the event you want the unique really feel, however this remaster is unquestionably doing much more than I anticipated out of the field.

As for the visuals and efficiency, The Witcher 3 Remastered is extra demanding to run and I’ve observed successful of about 5-10fps relying on the situation utilizing the identical Steam Deck preset in-game as the unique recreation. Actually, I put my LCD Steam Deck on airplane mode and had the unique recreation operating facet by facet with the remaster on my OLED Steam Deck to check.

The Witcher 3 was already a 40+fps expertise on Steam Deck, it may not appear to be a giant deal, however it’s best to anticipate some hiccups in Novigrad proper now. Once more, CD Projekt Pink talked about AMD drivers so I assume Valve will ship some Proton replace for The Witcher 3 Remastered sooner or later. I did all my testing on Proton Experimental (bleeding edge) this weekend.

I am undecided what the trigger is however typically quick travelling or loading a save seems to take far too lengthy. This was random, however a load that took 15 seconds in a single take a look at ended up taking round 55 seconds the following time. I think about this might be mounted for launch, but it surely was annoying. The Witcher 3 Remastered additionally has higher UI scaling out of the field on Steam Deck so textual content is extra readable and the contact help seems improved for UI navigation. 

Apart from the lengthy load instances that happen randomly within the construct I’ve, The Witcher 3 Remastered is great on Steam Deck and I can not wait to lastly end the DLC with the remaster throughout Steam Deck, Change 2, and PS5 Professional over the following few weeks. 

Be aware: The screenshots above had been taken utilizing the Steam Deck’s system screenshot performance. HDR was enabled and the graphics preset was set to Steam Deck.

The Witcher 3 Remastered on Steam Deck vs the unique recreation

Past visuals, The Witcher 3 Remastered has a brand new fashionable digicam distance setting for exploration, and it additionally defaults to totally different settings for the digicam distance in different areas. After altering these to match the unique, it was simpler to check The Witcher 3 Remastered with the unique simply on Steam Deck. For the reason that Steam Deck was my go to transportable model to revisit The Witcher 3 after ending it on Change, I used to be hopeful to see it ship a very good expertise, and whereas it’s noticeably higher trying, the efficiency hit is not negligible.

I’ve included some comparability pictures under displaying The Witcher 3 Remastered vs The Witcher 3 on Steam Deck utilizing the Steam Deck preset in each variations. I attempted to get to the very same positions, time of day, digicam angles, and extra as nicely. 

The Witcher 3 Remastered Steam Deck really useful settings

For the reason that AMD drivers aren’t closing but and I assume issues will change at launch, my The Witcher 3 Remastered Steam Deck really useful settings primarily based on the present construct I’ve is to make use of the Steam Deck preset and to depart the upscaling to auto. With this you’ll get a very good visible expertise with round 40fps in most components, however anticipate 30fps in Novigrad and the like. The main setting you completely ought to disable or tweak is movement blur. It’s too sturdy by default and appears unhealthy. 

I am curious to see how CD Projekt Pink patches The Witcher 3 Remastered past simply optimization or fixes. This isn’t only a technical improve, however one which brings large modifications to gameplay and even the aesthetic in components. I might be revisiting this as soon as we get any driver updates or optimization updates in order that I can even cowl the way it feels on ROG Ally. Till then, The Witcher 3 Remastered did much more than I anticipated, and revisiting it on Deck has jogged my memory of simply how good it’s.