Free Next Gen Update for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt should be released very soon, on December 14th. It will be available on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and CD PROJEKT RED published new information about this update.

It will update the game to version 4.0 and add support for the Ambient Occlusion model, plus ray tracing: on all platforms it will be used to implement Global Illumination, and on PC additionally to calculate reflections and shadows.

Also, the Next Gen update will include some mods – both official and developed by players (The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project, HD Monsters Reworked, Immersive Real-time Cutscenes, World Map Fixes, etc.).

All main characters will have improved textures and high-resolution custom shadows, even outside cutscenes. The environment has also received an improvement: a new type of weather will appear, updated textures of the sky, water, vegetation and global lighting.

Also, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Next Gen will feature a photo mode, the ability to pause videos, and a new camera that is closer to the character and reacts more dynamically to what is happening with the hero.

The PC version will feature a new graphics setting — ULTRA+. It will significantly improve the quality of the image – it will increase the quality of textures, increase the detail, the density of the grass, the reflection distance, etc. Also, DLSS 3 support will appear on PC.

For consoles, the developer promises a general improvement in image quality: improved textures, shadows, draw range, crowd density, etc. Also, two video modes will appear in the game – Ray Tracing (maximum quality, 30 fps) and Performance (stable 60 fps and dynamic resolution change).

It is also reported that the version on Xbox Series S will not have support for ray tracing, and on PS5 the game will support the functionality of the DualSense controller – adaptive triggers and haptic feedback.

The Next Gen update will add to the game the function of global progress between platforms thanks to “cloud” saves (for this you will need to log in to your account). Additional content will also appear in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Next Gen: a new side quest, an alternate appearance of the Nilfgaard armor inspired by the Netflix series, and a large number of minor changes to the gameplay and interface.