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The Witcher 3 Remastered makes the original's best HD mod obsolete, but only because that same modder's been working on the real deal
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It's been a long road, but a mod we called The Witcher 3's best graphics overhaul will no longer be needed—and for once, I can talk about a mod becoming obsolete with a smile on my face, because the reasons involved here are all good ones.
The Witcher 3 HD Reworked is a cornerstone of the game's modding scene. We're talking over 325,000 unique downloads (725,000 in total), and that's just the version that was uploaded back in 2024. The "OldGen" version, uploaded in 2015, has an eye-melting 1.7 million unique downloads (5.8 million in total). It's a frankly astonishing upscaling and remodelling project that effects thousands of textures, models, and so on in CD Projekt Red's classic.
It's so impressive, in fact, that CDPR just snapped the guy up for The Witcher 3 Remastered. HalkHogan writes: "It's been a while since the last news and I would like to clarify any questions and confirm that I am cooperating with CDPR on The Witcher 3 Remaster, and my work will be officially available in the game on September 29 (on PC and consoles). HDRP will no longer be needed.
"Almost all in-game characters, monsters, animals, vegetation, armors and equipment for Geralt & Roach and a large part of the environment have been reworked, and I've put a lot of effort into ensuring the highest quality. Thanks and see you later!"
This means that you're not gonna need The Witcher 3 HD Reworked anymore because, well, the guy who made it worked on the remaster. Our own Joshua Wolens spoke to executive producer Jakub Kutrzuba about it earlier this month: "We are integrating the most popular mod on Nexus mod, the HDD Rework mod, with tons of upgraded textures, meshes. [It's] something which is bringing great visual improvement across the whole game."
As for how it turned out, he took a peek more recently during Gamescom 2026, where he wrote: "It's something else now. Letten is gorgeous from all angles, whether you're watching the sunrise crest the hills or stepping into the oppressive darkness of its sinister woods."
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Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.