After the initial announcement at Gamescom, CD Projekt Red followed up with specific gameplay footage: In an official livestream, the developer showed off more than 13 minutes of coherent gameplay from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered and the upcoming expansion Song of the Past. The recording focuses on innovations aimed at significantly modernizing the feel of the game more than a decade later. If you missed the live demo, the material shown will give you a first-hand look at the modified animations, graphical tweaks and changed combat system available to Geralt in the new Latvian region.
The first part of the gameplay demo was dedicated to the remaster of the main game, which will be released on September 29th. In the scene, the developers showed off Geralt’s revised action sequences. Transitions when running, turning, and dodging, once considered stiff, have been replaced with smoother animations.
The film also sees the physics of the cockroach being modified and the visuals of the Witcher character being enhanced. New finisher animations have been introduced into combat that blend seamlessly into the flow of sword strikes. The expanded HUD and fast travel options in the revised interface are also brought directly into live gameplay.
The second part of the 13-minute trailer cuts directly to the new open-world region of Latvia and shows off scenes from the Song of the Past expansion. The film sees Geralt exploring a village setting, where the atmosphere is seemingly peaceful.
The focus of the gameplay is to reveal a new weapon mechanic: in the expansion, Geralt wields a flexible silver chain in combat. The video shows how to use chains to keep distance from enemies, attract monsters, or break enemy shields with targeted strikes.
In addition, the developers also provided insight into the structure of tasks in the live broadcast. The section shown was investigated as part of the new Witcher quest, showcasing the refined meditation mechanics and new tracker functionality.
The footage makes it clear just how closely intertwined the remaster’s technical revisions are with the content of the upcoming expansion. The portion shown was running at native 4K resolution at a smooth 60 frames per second on a PC test bench.
