CD Projekt Red stated that a specific graphical feature may affect performance in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered and encouraged players to turn it off while a patch to fix it and other issues is being worked on. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered went live on September 29 on all platforms as a free upgrade to users who bought the game beforehand.
The Witcher 3 Remastered is more than just a technical upgrade to one of the best action RPGs of all time. Along with updated graphics, The Witcher 3‘s skill tree system also received an overhaul. Compared to the previous iteration, players must now first acquire specific traits along a given path before other skills become unlocked. Though Geralt’s skill slot limit remains intact in the remaster, all skills and abilities can still be swapped out as needed. The skills that are equipped can be further enhanced or altered via mutations.
Geralt’s Hair is Tanking The Witcher 3 Remastered’s Performance
While all the new features that The Witcher 3 Remastered has to offer are appreciated, the game still has some issues to iron out. One particular issue has caught the developer’s attention already, as CD Projekt Red confirmed on Twitter that using Nvidia Hairworks technology may negatively impact performance. The developer initially stated that users could turn Hairworks off as a workaround. Shortly after posting the notice, hotfix update 5.00c became available on GOG, Steam, and other PC storefronts for players to download and install. Along with a fix for Nvidia Hairworks, other issues affecting Bloom, lighting, and path tracing were addressed. In response to the developer’s post, other users claimed that the PS5 version of The Witcher 3 Remastered was also suffering from some performance problems. CD Projekt Red stated that, while some adjustments were made in Patch 5.00b to address some console issues, the Polish studio said it was continuing to investigate other issues that were reported.
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Image via CD Projekt Red -
Image via CDPR -
Image via CDPR
In short, Nvidia Hairworks is exclusive to the PC version of The Witcher 3. This technology allows Geralt’s white hair to look more realistic and flow freely in windy weather conditions. True to its name, Hairworks requires users to have an Nvidia graphics card installed. It is also recommended that users update their Nvidia graphics drivers to the latest version to ensure that features like Hairworks DLSS upscaling are working properly.
Despite the performance concerns, The Witcher 3 Remastered launched to the highest score on Metacritic so far in 2026. Upon its September 29 release, the game held a 94/100 Metacritic score based on 10 critic reviews. As of this writing, the score has not changed.
As for The Witcher 3 Remastered, CD Projekt Red previously revealed the extensive list of changes that came with Patch 5.00’s launch. Given that hotfixes have already been deployed to address some problems, it remains to be seen what other issues are still on the dev team’s radar.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered Hotfix 5.00c Notes (October 1, 2026)
- Fixed an issue where the game couldn’t be saved or loaded if the path to the Documents folder contained special characters.
- Fixed an issue where voiceover audio could become significantly quieter than other in-game audio after navigating through the pause menu tabs.
- Made various visual adjustments in Velen, including tweaks to Bloom, vegetation lighting, saturation, and Path Tracing lighting.
- Reverted a change that caused significant performance and visual issues with HairWorks enabled for some users.
- Fixed an issue where marketing telemetry settings weren’t saved properly.
- Fixed an issue on GOG where achievements wouldn’t appear in the unlocked list after being earned.
- Fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to launch the Classic (1.32) version of the game.
- Released
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September 29, 2026
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
