The Witcher 3 Remastered: Combat, Accessibility and Expansion Plans
CD Projekt Red discusses the Remastered edition’s gameplay and accessibility changes, included expansions and the planned Songs of the Past story.
In this guide
In an October 12 Epic Games Store interview, CD Projekt RED senior publishing producer Joanna Wieliczko-Masios described The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered as more than a graphics refresh. The edition, released September 29, 2026 according to Epic, revisits combat, movement, progression and accessibility alongside lighting upgrades. The interview also links that work to the announced Songs of the Past expansion. These are developer statements reported by Epic, not the result of our own performance or gameplay test.
Changes beyond ray tracing
The interview mentions ray tracing and path tracing, but says the team also wanted a 2015 RPG to feel more familiar to contemporary players. Combat, movement and progression were therefore reconsidered. The producer calls the reimagined progression system one of the clearest changes for veterans who already know Geralt's builds. That suggests old build guides should be checked against the Remastered rules rather than copied directly, although the interview does not publish a full skill-by-skill balance table.
What Bard's Ballad is for
Bard's Ballad is a set of accessibility options intended to reduce cognitive load and let players tailor the experience. Examples given include disabling item weight or durability and allowing infinite breath underwater. Those are optional settings, not a claim that the standard game removes all survival constraints. Players sensitive to a complex inventory or underwater timing should inspect the settings before choosing a difficulty or following an older walkthrough.
Included content versus a future expansion
Epic's interview says Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine are included with the Remastered base experience. The producer describes the remaster as a free upgrade and says even previous base-game owners gain those expansions through it. Verify the entitlement rules on your own platform and account before assuming a separate purchase is unnecessary. Songs of the Past is different: it is a newly announced, folklore-inspired expansion that could be wishlisted at the time of the article, not one of the two included legacy expansions.
The planned story involving Geralt and Dandelion is being developed with Fool's Theory, whose team includes Witcher 3 veterans. No release date or detailed quest list is established in this interview. The most useful takeaway is to separate current Remastered features from the still-upcoming content—and to review official platform-specific upgrade notes before reinstalling.
Source: Read Craig Pearson’s Epic interview with CD Projekt RED (published October 12, 2026). This article summarizes the announcement and adds practical context; it is not a hands-on test.
