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The Witcher 3 Remastered, one week on: every patch and what is still open

Two patches, a record Steam peak and a lighting argument that will not go away. A dated guide to what CD Projekt Red has fixed and what it has promised.

By Leonida Desk
High-confidence report Reported by a top-tier outlet. Not an official statement.

The Witcher 3’s free Remastered edition has had a strange first week: a record number of players on Steam, and an argument about its lighting that two patches have not yet ended.12

The patches so far

Date Platforms What it changed
1 October PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC (Xbox Play Anywhere) Lighting adjustments, including interiors that were too dark; DLSS restored on Play Anywhere3
2 October PC (hotfix 5.00c) Visual adjustments in Velen; save, audio, HairWorks, achievement and launcher fixes45
Next update Not dated Performance, especially on PS5; more visual adjustments; console voiceover audio6

The second patch is the one that speaks to the complaint. Its notes list “various visual adjustments in Velen, including tweaks to Bloom, vegetation lighting, saturation, and path tracing lighting”.4 It also reverted a HairWorks change that had caused performance and visual problems, and fixed voiceover going quiet after a visit to the pause menu.5

The complaint

Since launch, players have argued over whether the new version is too bright and washed out.2 Eurogamer’s reading is that Bloom is a main cause, and that console players are worse off because they cannot switch it off as PC players can.2 CD Projekt Red has responded with patches but not with words: Eurogamer says the studio had no comment when asked.7

The same asymmetry shows up in the request some PS5 players are now making, which is to have the previous version back. On PC the game can be rolled back. On console it cannot.8

The numbers

None of this has kept people away. GamesRadar+, citing SteamDB, reports a new all-time Steam peak of 137,724 concurrent players, up from a previous record of 103,329 set in January 2020.1 It also says the Remastered edition is currently the best-reviewed game of 2026 on Metacritic.9 Paweł Sasko of CD Projekt Red marked the weekend with a short message: “Much love and gratitude for playing our games”.10

What is still open

On 6 October the studio listed what it is working on: “further performance improvements, particularly on PS5”, further visual adjustments, and voiceover audio fixes on consoles.6 It is also working with mod.io to bring more mods to every platform.11

That list itself caused friction. Eurogamer reports that some players were annoyed to see Twitch Drops and Ukrainian localisation named as work in progress while bugs remain.8

What we don’t know

When the next update arrives, and whether it will give console players control over Bloom. Whether the earlier version will ever be offered again on console. And how the brightness debate divides between people who dislike the new look and people whose settings or displays are exaggerating it.

Why it matters

The update is free to anyone who owns the game, and it exists to prepare for a third expansion next year.12 It also raises the minimum system requirements.7 That combination is the real story of the week: a replacement that cost nothing and brought back more players than ever, and that some of its existing owners on console cannot decline.81

Footnotes

  1. GamesRadar+: The Witcher 3 Remastered leads to new Steam player peak of nearly 140,000, CD Projekt Red celebrates, 2026-10-05. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Eurogamer: Witcher 3 Remastered patch addressing “various lighting adjustments” rolls out, 2026-10-01. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Eurogamer: Witcher 3 Remastered patch addressing “various lighting adjustments” rolls out, 2026-10-01. ↩

  4. Eurogamer: CD Projekt Red addresses divisive lighting changes in a new Witcher 3 Remastered PC patch, 2026-10-02. ↩ ↩2

  5. Eurogamer: CD Projekt Red addresses divisive lighting changes in a new Witcher 3 Remastered PC patch, 2026-10-02. ↩ ↩2

  6. Eurogamer: CD Projekt Red outlines which Witcher 3 Remastered fixes are coming next, but there’s still division about the changes, 2026-10-06. ↩ ↩2

  7. Eurogamer: CD Projekt Red outlines which Witcher 3 Remastered fixes are coming next, but there’s still division about the changes, 2026-10-06. ↩ ↩2

  8. Eurogamer: CD Projekt Red outlines which Witcher 3 Remastered fixes are coming next, but there’s still division about the changes, 2026-10-06. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. GamesRadar+: The Witcher 3 Remastered leads to new Steam player peak of nearly 140,000, CD Projekt Red celebrates, 2026-10-05. ↩

  10. GamesRadar+: The Witcher 3 Remastered leads to new Steam player peak of nearly 140,000, CD Projekt Red celebrates, 2026-10-05. ↩

  11. Eurogamer: CD Projekt Red outlines which Witcher 3 Remastered fixes are coming next, but there’s still division about the changes, 2026-10-06. ↩

  12. Eurogamer: Witcher 3 Remastered patch addressing “various lighting adjustments” rolls out, 2026-10-01. ↩

  • The Witcher 3
  • CD Projekt Red
  • patches
  • remaster