Key Highlights:
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered launches on September 29 as a free upgrade for qualifying PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S owners, with a native Nintendo Switch 2 version also arriving.
- Songs of the Past launches as The Witcher 3’s third expansion in 2027, taking Geralt to the new region of Letten with new enemies, mutagens, quests and a chain weapon.
- Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine are now free for existing owners of The Witcher 3, including players who only own the base game.
CD PROJEKT RED has confirmed that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered launches on September 29, 2026, bringing another substantial overhaul to its 2015 RPG alongside the first detailed look at upcoming expansion Songs of the Past.
Remastered will be available as a free upgrade for qualifying owners on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. A native Nintendo Switch 2 version launches on the same day, while The Witcher 3 will also make its Battle.net debut through a new partnership between CD PROJEKT RED and Blizzard Entertainment.
The September update goes considerably further than a resolution or performance refresh.
CD PROJEKT RED is reworking combat, character movement and traversal while adding new Witcher Sign effects, improved horse handling, enhanced monster behaviour and additional finishing moves.
Character progression is changing through a redesigned skill tree, while transmogrification will allow Geralt’s appearance to be separated from the statistics attached to equipped armour.
Photo Mode is also expanding with additional poses, camera controls, filters, frames and character models.
That makes Remastered distinct from the free next-generation update released for The Witcher 3 in December 2022.
The earlier update introduced features including ray tracing, faster loading, Photo Mode, integrated community mods and content inspired by Netflix’s The Witcher series. Remastered is another development pass rather than simply a renamed version of that existing upgrade.
I think the character progression and combat changes are more significant than another visual upgrade because CD PROJEKT RED is modifying systems players interact with throughout the entire game rather than only changing how its world is presented.
Xbox players are receiving an additional platform feature.
The Witcher 3 Remastered will support Xbox Play Anywhere, allowing supported ownership and progression to move between Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC and compatible Xbox handheld devices.
The September release also changes ownership of The Witcher 3’s existing expansions.
All current owners of the base game can now access Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine without buying them separately. On Xbox, CD PROJEKT RED has confirmed that this also applies to Xbox One owners even though Xbox One itself does not receive the Remastered upgrade. Digital owners receive the expansions through their library, while eligible disc owners can claim them through the Xbox Store.
The giveaway effectively turns existing base-game ownership into access to the two major expansions released during The Witcher 3’s original post-launch cycle.
Blood and Wine originally launched in May 2016, meaning Songs of the Past will arrive more than a decade after the game’s previous full expansion.
Unlike Remastered, Songs of the Past will be a paid expansion.
CD PROJEKT RED first announced the project in May 2026, but its Gamescom appearance provides the first substantial look at its new setting and systems. Fool’s Theory is co-developing the expansion alongside CD PROJEKT RED, with the studio itself describing Songs of the Past as The Witcher 3’s third expansion.
Geralt travels to Letten, a previously unseen region presented initially as a peaceful land shaped by farming, folklore, plentiful harvests and large festivals.
The apparent tranquillity hides a supernatural threat.
Official storefront information says Geralt will investigate a dark curse at the centre of Letten while completing dozens of quests and visiting new points of interest. His decisions will again carry consequences for the region and the people living within it.
The story will also put one of Geralt’s closest relationships at risk.
Blizzard and CD PROJEKT RED’s expanded description says the fate of both Letten and Geralt’s closest friend will depend on his actions, giving the expansion a more personal stake than the initial Gamescom press release reveals.
Gamescom demonstrations have provided further context.
Preview footage identifies Letten as being located in northern Redania and ties the story closely to Dandelion, whose disappearance draws Geralt into the region. Letten is also connected to Dandelion’s family history.
Geralt will have new ways to fight once he arrives.
Songs of the Past introduces new mutagens and a chain weapon, adding another combat option alongside his established steel and silver swords, Signs, potions and bombs. Official Battle.net material specifically confirms the chain as a new weapon rather than merely an animation shown in the teaser.
The expansion will also inherit the gameplay, visual, performance and progression changes introduced by Remastered. Players entering Letten in 2027 will therefore experience the region through the updated version of The Witcher 3 rather than its existing 2022 build.
Fool’s Theory is a particularly notable development partner.
Its leadership includes developers who previously worked on The Witcher series, and the studio is already developing the remake of the original Witcher alongside CD PROJEKT RED. Songs of the Past therefore puts a team already involved in the franchise’s future onto Geralt’s next Witcher 3 adventure.
The Remastered project has a similar connection to previous Witcher 3 work.
Yigsoft is co-developing the upgrade after previously building The Witcher 3 REDkit with CD PROJEKT RED. Released in 2024, REDkit gives PC modders access to development tools capable of creating quests, characters, animations and even new territories.
The Gamescom announcements also introduce a new Blizzard partnership.
The Witcher 3 Remastered will launch on Battle.net on September 29, marking the game’s first release through Blizzard’s platform. Songs of the Past will follow there in 2027.
Players who purchase Songs of the Past through Battle.net will also receive access to a Geralt-inspired cosmetic skin in Diablo IV. Blizzard says additional details about the crossover will be announced during BlizzCon in September.
The renewed investment comes more than 11 years after The Witcher 3 originally launched.
CD PROJEKT RED reported in 2025 that the RPG had sold more than 60 million copies, while the wider Witcher game franchise had reached 85 million sales by early 2026.
Songs of the Past gives that enormous existing audience its first new full expansion since Blood and Wine while Remastered attempts to modernise the underlying game for another generation of hardware.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered launches on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2 on September 29.
Songs of the Past follows in 2027 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2. CD PROJEKT RED has not announced an exact release date or price for the expansion.
