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The Witcher 3 Remastered is messing with the part RPG players notice most: their builds
Eleven years of guides, favorite builds and muscle memory are about to meet a new version of The Witcher 3. The Remastered edition certainly has the expected visual work, but CD Projekt RED is also rebuilding character progression and altering the feel of combat. That makes September 29 more interesting than another pass at sharper Novigrad cobblestones.
By Hugat The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 
The skill tree is not being preserved for nostalgia
CD Projekt calls character progression one of Remastered's more fundamental changes. The entire tree has been redesigned, existing skills are being reworked and new perks and abilities are being added.
The stated goal is greater flexibility and a progression system that makes more sense to a modern RPG audience. That can affect the game from the first few levels to endgame builds in a way a texture upgrade obviously cannot.
Transmogrification joins the system changes, finally allowing appearance and equipment statistics to stop fighting over Geralt's wardrobe.
Combat has a camera that reacts to the fight
Animation work is meant to make Geralt close distance more fluidly, while new finishers add more explicit punctuation to individual fights. One shown by CD Projekt uses Aard.
The adaptive camera is more unusual. It can tighten the framing and then move wider when a larger group needs to remain visible. Movement, traversal and Roach handling are being updated as well.
CD Projekt also lists enhanced monster behaviors and new visual effects for Witcher Signs among the changes.
Console modding is becoming a much larger part of the package
Remastered introduces cross-platform mod support. CD Projekt specifically says Xbox Series players will be able to use custom content ranging from quests and equipment to balance modifications.
There is still important detail missing. The studio has not published a complete compatibility matrix explaining which mods can move between every platform or what restrictions console creators will face.
The photo mode gets new poses, camera controls, frames, filters and models too.
The old expansions just became part of owning The Witcher 3
Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine are now available at no additional cost to base-game owners. Save compatibility and cross progression remain intact.
The free Remastered upgrade arrives September 29 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. A native Nintendo Switch 2 edition launches the same day, and existing Switch owners can claim the Switch 2 version for free.
Battle.net is another new destination. CD Projekt's partnership with Blizzard will bring both Remastered and the upcoming Songs of the Past expansion to the launcher.
The next build reset may come with a chain
Songs of the Past launches in 2027 as a paid third expansion. Geralt travels to Letten, Dandelion's homeland, where the pastoral appearance is hiding the sort of problem that tends to require silver.
The expansion adds new mutagens, new monsters and a chain weapon aimed partly at crowd control. It is also a deliberate callback to the original Witcher's intro cinematic.
Fool's Theory is co-developing Songs of the Past. Yigsoft is working with CD Projekt RED on the Remastered upgrade.