The Witcher 3 Remastered Gets Path Tracing and DLSS 4.5 on September 29
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered launches on September 29, 2026, bringing one of the largest technical upgrades yet for CD Projekt Red's acclaimed RPG. On PC, NVIDIA has confirmed full path tracing alongside DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction, Dynamic Multi Frame Generation and an upgraded DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution implementation, positioning Geralt's return as one of the major RTX releases in NVIDIA's September gaming lineup.
CD Projekt Red officially revealed The Witcher 3 Remastered at Gamescom 2026, confirming major improvements to visuals, performance and gameplay. Environmental, NPC and monster textures are being upgraded, foliage is receiving substantial improvements, while lighting, rendering and ray tracing systems are being reworked across the Continent. Combat also gains revised animations, new finishers and an adaptive camera, while character progression receives a redesigned skill system. Cross platform mod support, transmogrification, an expanded photo mode and changes to meditation are also included.
The free upgrade conditions are important because Remastered does not automatically apply to ownership on every platform. Players who already own The Witcher 3 on GOG, Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X and S qualify for the free Remastered upgrade. Nintendo is being handled differently. Players who own the existing Nintendo Switch version will be able to claim Remastered on Nintendo Switch 2 when the new edition launches. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch 2 and Battle.net editions are available separately for purchase. CD Projekt Red's announcement does not list PlayStation 4 or Xbox One ownership as qualifying platforms for the Remastered upgrade.
There is also a separate benefit for existing owners of the base game. CD Projekt Red says current owners will receive Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine at no additional cost, while both expansions are included directly with Remastered. This expansion entitlement should not be confused with the Remastered platform upgrade rules, which are limited to the qualifying platforms specified by CD Projekt Red.
PC players receive the most technologically ambitious version. According to NVIDIA, Remastered upgrades the existing ray traced renderer with path tracing and DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction. NVIDIA is also introducing line swept sphere path traced rendering for hair, extending the HairWorks technology associated with the original PC release into the new lighting pipeline. DLSS Super Resolution moves to the 4.5 model, while Frame Generation receives performance and latency improvements.
Dynamic Multi Frame Generation provides the largest potential performance increase on GeForce RTX 50 Series hardware, dynamically adjusting frame multiplication and supporting up to 6X generation. The rendering load created by path tracing makes these technologies especially important, since accurate global lighting, shadows, reflections and indirect illumination require substantially more GPU processing than the existing ray tracing implementation.
The official implementation follows earlier community experimentation with the game. An unofficial DLSS 4.5 modification previously demonstrated Dynamic Multi Frame Generation and large performance increases on RTX 50 Series GPUs. Remastered now integrates the technology directly into the game while combining it with a significantly broader rendering overhaul. The Witcher 3 is also only one part of NVIDIA's September DLSS push.
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Honeycomb: The World Beyond: Available now with DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution, Dynamic Multi Frame Generation, DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction and NVIDIA RTX Direct Illumination.
WARDOGS: Launches September 10 with DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution, Dynamic Multi Frame Generation and NVIDIA Reflex.
PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS: Adds DLSS Super Resolution on September 10, with NVIDIA App overrides allowing compatible systems to use the latest DLSS 4.5 model.
007 First Light: Receives path tracing and DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction on September 15, joining its existing DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution and Dynamic Multi Frame Generation support.
NBA 2K27: Available now with DLSS 5 and 3D Guided Neural Rendering, marking the first official game implementation of NVIDIA's new neural rendering technology on GeForce RTX 50 Series hardware.
Active Matter: Launches September 15 with DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution, Ray Reconstruction and Dynamic Multi Frame Generation alongside ray traced reflections and shadows.
Aniimo: Launches September 16 with DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution and Dynamic Multi Frame Generation, with NVIDIA ACE integration planned later.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered: Launches September 29 with path tracing, DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction, upgraded DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution and Dynamic Multi Frame Generation.
The September lineup demonstrates how fragmented the DLSS ecosystem has become as NVIDIA introduces increasingly specialized technologies. PUBG receives conventional Super Resolution, while Honeycomb and Active Matter combine reconstruction with ray traced effects. The Witcher 3 and 007 First Light sit near the top of the rendering stack with path tracing and Ray Reconstruction, while NBA 2K27 goes in another direction entirely as the first commercial showcase for DLSS 5 Neural Rendering.
The Witcher 3 is particularly notable because it has already moved through several generations of NVIDIA graphics technology. The original 2015 release arrived before consumer real time ray tracing, followed years later by the next generation update with ray tracing and DLSS. Community developers subsequently brought newer DLSS technology into the game, and Remastered will now move the official renderer to path tracing and DLSS 4.5.
The Witcher 3 Remastered is more interesting than another resolution and texture upgrade because CD Projekt Red is effectively moving an 11 year old game onto NVIDIA's current high end rendering pipeline. Path tracing, Ray Reconstruction and Dynamic Multi Frame Generation fundamentally change how the PC version produces its final image.
The free upgrade policy also makes the release considerably easier to recommend, although players should pay attention to platform eligibility. Existing ownership on GOG, Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S qualifies directly, while original Nintendo Switch owners receive a specific path to the Nintendo Switch 2 version. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are not currently listed among the qualifying Remastered platforms.
September more broadly shows just how aggressively NVIDIA is expanding DLSS. The 8 game roundup ranges from conventional Super Resolution to path tracing and DLSS 5 Neural Rendering, meaning DLSS is becoming less of a single graphics setting and more of an increasingly complete AI assisted rendering ecosystem.
Will path tracing and DLSS 4.5 convince you to return to The Witcher 3 on September 29, or are you more interested in one of the other 7 games receiving major NVIDIA DLSS updates this month?
