The Witcher 3 new-gen upgrade finally cracks down on identical NPCs

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The new-gen trailer sheds light on a change

Ciri in the Witcher 3
(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

The Witcher 3's new-gen upgrade seemingly removes cloned NPCs from cutscenes.

Yesterday on November 23, CD Projekt unveiled the full list of features for The Witcher 3's new-gen upgrade. When it came to the new trailer for the port, eagle-eyed fans on Reddit spotted that NPCs in cutscenes had apparently been altered, so there are no longer identical NPCs sharing the same scene.

Back when The Witcher 3 first launched in 2015, the game had relatively few NPC character models. As such, it wasn't all that uncommon to find identical NPCs strolling along the same stretch of street, or even in the same cutscene, as you can see from the older screenshot just above.

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While it's somewhat puzzling for CD Projekt to leave this detail out of the list of features announced yesterday, the developer did state that there'd be "much more" to come closer to launch. The implication was that a full changelog of adjustments will be published at some point in the next few weeks.

The Witcher 3's new-gen upgrade finally launches next month on December 14, as CD Projekt revealed yesterday. Bundled into the new upgrade for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles are a photo mode, overhauled graphical details, and a performance mode and quality mode, boasting 60FPS and 30FPS plus ray tracing, respectively.

If you needed an excuse to return to one of the best RPGs of the last decade, this might well be it.

Check out our detailed guide to The Witcher 4 for a complete look at everything we know about the forthcoming sequel so far. 

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer
Freelance Writer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.