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It's not often that you hear a game developer promoting a particular mod, but that's exactly what's happening in the case of The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project NextGen Edition mod, and it's frankly kind of refreshing.
The list of upcoming CDPR games includes hotly anticipated titles like The Witcher 4 (which just entered full production), a remake of The Witcher 1, and a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, and so I can say with some degree of confidence that we're unlikely to get a full-blown The Witcher 3 remake any time soon — especially given its next-gen update is only a couple of years old at this point.
Even though I think the original 2015 release still holds up to this day, if you want it to look a little more modern and aren't satisfied with the next-gen update, CDPR itself has endorsed this mod you can download now through Nexus Mods.
"The long-awaited final version of the project appreciated by the amazing Witcher community and CD Project RED, which now raises the game's visuals to the highest level yet and enchance it to a truly next-gen masterpiece," reads the description from the mod author, Halk Hogan.
In a tweet, CDPR said the mod reworks various game assets (textures, models, materials and more)" and "aims to make the game more detailed and realistic while still being faithful to the original vision and atmosphere."
It's hard to think of a more ringing endorsement than that.
The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project NextGen Edition mod is out! ✨Created by Halk Hogan, it’s the final version of the project, which improves and reworks various game assets (textures, models, materials and more). It aims to make the game more detailed and realistic while still… pic.twitter.com/SQm6osEH7mNovember 27, 2024
In the comparison video up top, you can see some pretty dramatic improvements to textures, colors, reflections, shadows, and level of detail. Among the long list of improvements detailed on NexusMods are "ultra quality" textures, many of which have been reworked to 4K, more realistic and 3D-looking surfaces due to relief mapping, "smooth and more detailed models," better draw distance for "many models," and "specially customized materials and shaders for all reworked assets."
Halk Hogan also said the reworked visuals were designed to stay "consistent with the original CDPR artistic vision of The Witcher 3." And with CDPR itself doing some promotional work for the mod, it's safe to say that's a true statement.
It's worth noting that the mod works with both the plain ol' base game and the next-gen update, and Halk Hogan said "the game should run similar as before mod installation." Naturally, higher graphics settings will be more demanding of your GPU, but the mod should have "little impact on performance."
There's a reason The Witcher 3 earned itself a spot on our list of the best RPGs.
