Reviewed on: Switch 2
Code supplied by the publisher.
While at gamescom this year, I wasn’t expecting The Witcher to completely overwhelm me with so much amazing content and news. Now, here we are, a month later reaping the fruits of that show.
There's a specific kind of disbelief that hits when you fire up The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered on Switch 2 for the first time. And no, it’s not the opening scene but when you actually get out into the open world. Not because the game is good, we've known that for over a decade, but because of where it's running.
In case you’ve been hiding under a rock, this is a 2015 open world epic, rebuilt and improved, running beautifully on a handheld that costs $499. Ten years ago people were arguing about whether high-end PCs could do this game justice. Now it fits in your hands on a train, plane, or bus.
Listing everything CD Projekt Red changed would take longer than this review allows, so here's the short version: it feels like the game it always should have been. Combat has been tightened in ways that address complaints people have been making since launch, the quality of life additions are extensive enough that going back to the original feels rough, and the visual work goes well beyond a resolution bump. Menus behave. Inventory management no longer feels like homework. Little frustrations you'd stopped noticing because you'd accepted them are simply gone. None of it changes what the game fundamentally is, which is the right call. It just removes the friction that stood between you and it.
This review covers the Switch 2 version, but I also spent time with the GOG PC build, and it's stunning in its own right. If you've got the hardware, that's obviously where the game looks its absolute best. What makes the Switch 2 version special isn't that it wins a technical comparison, because it doesn't. It's that the compromise you'd expect for portability barely registers. Docked, it looks fantastic on a television. Handheld, it holds up well enough that you'll lose an hour to Velen while waiting for something else to start. I just can’t believe we are playing this on a Nintendo handheld at this visual fidelity!
Whether you've finished this game a dozen times or never touched the series, this is the version to buy. Newcomers get the definitive experience with none of the original's rough edges. Veterans get a reason to return to Toussaint one more time and find it looking better than they remembered. Either way, having Geralt in your bag is a genuinely great way to own this game.
