Gamescom 2026 kicked off on Tuesday with Opening Night Live, the trailer showcase for some of the games coming out later this year and next. Europe’s major gaming event of the year, based in Cologne, Germany, it showed off a bunch of new games, but it was the remaster and expansion for the 11-year-old The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt that stole the show.
Developer CD Projekt Red revealed during the show that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered will launch on Sept. 29 as a free upgrade for anyone who owns the game on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S consoles. Along with this updated version of the game, next year, a new expansion called Songs of the Past will arrive as the swan song for the series protagonist, Geralt of Rivia. The Witcher 4 is expected in 2028, and will focus on his adopted daughter and fellow Witcher, Ciri.
The Witcher 3 Remastered will feature a slew of improvements to the 2015 game. They include smoother combat, UI enhancements, a revamped skill tree, an expanded photo mode, new finishing moves and plenty of graphic upgrades to the textures, lighting, ray tracing and more. The remastered game will also make its debut on the Nintendo Switch 2 and Battle.net the same day.
Not only will Witcher 3 owners get the free upgrade in September, but CD Projekt Red is also making the game’s two expansions free starting Tuesday. Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine came out in the year following the release of The Witcher 3 and added new content, including a drawn-out story and a huge new region.
As for the new expansion, Songs of the Past will come out in 2027, and it will feature a new land for Geralt to explore. Letten is a region with its own identity that’s filled with questions, monsters and a dark secret. Players will fight off never-before-seen enemies and make use of new weapons in what could be the last adventure for Geralt.
The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt is out now on multiple platforms, but the free upgrade will only be available for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series consoles. Songs of the Past is currently slated for release only on PC and Xbox Series consoles, according to the game’s website, though this could change closer to release.
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