Witcher 3

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Publication Information
Developer	CD Projekt Red
Remaster	CD Projekt Red with Yigsoft
Release Date	19 May 2015 (PC, PS4, Xbox One) 15 October 2019 (Switch) 14 December 2022 (PS5, Xbox Series X/S) 29 September 2026 (Remastered)
Genre	Action RPG, Open World
Modes	Single-Player
Platform	PC, PlayStation 5 Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2
Game Information
Setting	The Northern Kingdoms, 1272
Protagonist	Geralt of Rivia
Regions	6
Expansions	Hearts of Stone Blood and Wine

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an open-world action RPG from CD Projekt Red, released on 19 May 2015 and rebuilt as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered on 29 September 2026. It closes the story of Geralt of Rivia, a witcher: a monster hunter for hire, trained from childhood and mutated to be faster and stronger.

Geralt is looking for Ciri, the girl he raised as a daughter, while two empires fight over the North and the Wild Hunt rides behind her. Everything else hangs off that search: a swamp full of drowners and starving villages, a city hunting its mages, an archipelago of feuding clans, and a duchy that never noticed there was a war on. The fighting is built around two swords, five magic signs and a kitbag of potions, and the build that carries Geralt through it is yours to choose.

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Story

It is spring 1272. The Nilfgaardian Empire under Emperor Emhyr has overrun the south of the Northern Kingdoms and is at war with Redania under King Radovid. Above the war rides the Wild Hunt, spectral riders from another world led by Eredin, and they are hunting Ciri for the power in her blood.

Yennefer brings Geralt to Emhyr, who hires him to find her. The search runs in three leads at once, played in any order: Velen and the Bloody Baron, the city of Novigrad with Triss and Dandelion, and the isles of Skellige. They converge on the Isle of Mists and a last stand at Kaer Morhen.

There are three endings, and they turn on how Geralt treats Ciri across a handful of moments rather than on one final choice. She becomes Empress of Nilfgaard, she becomes a witcher, or she does not come back.

Gameplay

Geralt fights with fast and strong attacks, a short dodge and a longer roll, a parry and a counter. He carries two swords and the choice between them is the first thing every fight asks: the steel sword is for people and beasts, the silver sword for monsters. The crossbow brings flying things down and is the only weapon that works underwater.

The five signs are a witcher's magic, paid for in stamina, and each has an alternate mode learned as a skill.

Alchemy is the third pillar. Geralt brews potions, decoctions, oils and bombs himself, and none of them is used up for good: meditating with a bottle of strong alcohol in the pack refills every charge. The cost is toxicity. Every potion adds some, and past the overdose threshold it starts eating Geralt's health.

Outside combat, Witcher Senses light up clues and scent trails for contracts and investigations, Gwent is the card game half the North is playing, Roach is the horse who always comes when called, and boats carry Geralt round Skellige.

Progression

Geralt levels mainly from quests, and each level brings one ability point. More come from the 30 Places of Power scattered across the map, which also reset in New Game+.

Points go into four skill trees: Combat, Signs, Alchemy and General. Remastered rebuilt them. Every skill now has three ranks, and a deeper skill opens through the specific skills before it rather than through points spent in the branch. Loading an older save refunds every point so the build can be made again.

Only slotted skills are active, and the slots are grouped round mutagens. A red, blue or green mutagen boosts attack power, sign intensity or vitality, and every matching skill slotted beside it multiplies the bonus. Blood and Wine adds mutations: twelve powerful passives researched in Professor Moreau's laboratory, one active at a time, which also open extra skill slots.

The gear does the rest. Armour comes light, medium or heavy, and each weight pairs with a school technique: light for critical damage, medium for signs, heavy for vitality. The witcher school gear sets are built around those three directions, and choosing one is choosing a build.

The Continent

The world is six open regions joined by fast travel and the story, plus a handful of places reached only in a quest.

Add-ons

Two expansions extend the game, and since 25 August 2026 both are free to anyone who owns it.

Sixteen small free DLC packs came out through the summer of 2015, among them New Game+, the quest that sends Geralt after the Wolf School gear, and several armour sets.

Editions