The best graphics settings for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt depend on your platform, hardware, display, and whether you value lighting detail, resolution, or responsive motion most. The September 29, 2026 Remastered release changes the guidance: PC adds Path Tracing and new upscaling options, while PlayStation 5 mode targets have been updated. Older next-gen figures remain useful history, but they should not be treated as current targets where the new notes supersede them. CD PROJEKT RED announced Remastered for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
Start with the trade-off you care about
There is no single best setting for every player. Ray tracing and Path Tracing are image-quality choices that add more elaborate lighting at a hardware cost; higher resolution can also reduce PC frame rates. On consoles, the available modes trade lighting presentation against resolution or motion smoothness. Choose a starting point based on your priorities, then compare it in the same area and during the same camera movement.
- Prioritize lighting: choose a ray-tracing option where the current platform offers one, accepting that performance may differ from a conventional mode.
- Prioritize smooth motion: favor a performance-oriented mode or a sustainable PC configuration. If using frame generation on PC, assess responsiveness as well as the displayed frame rate.
- Prioritize image clarity: use a resolution and quality level your hardware can sustain, and consider compatible reconstruction features if available.
PC: choose a sustainable baseline before advanced rendering
CD PROJEKT RED’s September 2026 Remastered change list adds Path Tracing, ray-traced HairWorks, NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 with Ray Reconstruction, AMD FSR 4 with Frame Generation and Anti-Lag 2, and Intel XeSS 2.0 with Frame Generation and Low Latency. The same notes say FSR 4 is supported on Radeon RX 7000 Series and newer; unsupported GPUs use FSR 2 instead. Check compatibility for your GPU and drivers before relying on any specific feature. See CD PROJEKT RED’s Remastered feature list.
A practical order for tuning
- Set resolution and a conventional rendering baseline. Begin without Path Tracing, at a resolution and quality level your system can sustain. The official PC requirements page warns that performance varies with configuration, graphics settings, and output resolution; higher resolution significantly affects FPS. Check the updated PC requirements and their test conditions.
- Compare one demanding change at a time. Use the same scene and camera movement, then change one option before judging the result. This makes it easier to identify whether a visual improvement is worth its performance cost.
- Try reconstruction only if supported and useful to you. Choose a compatible DLSS, FSR, or XeSS option if you want to evaluate its image and performance trade-off. The available features differ by hardware and version; do not assume every GPU supports every option.
- Evaluate frame generation separately from responsiveness. Frame generation creates additional displayed frames; it does not remove the underlying rendering workload. A higher displayed FPS alone does not establish that controls feel more responsive, so judge both motion and input feel.
- Test ray tracing and Path Tracing last. Enable these only after establishing a baseline, and keep them if their lighting presentation is worth the cost on your system. Path Tracing is not automatically the best choice for every GPU or performance target.
How to interpret PC performance figures
The October 2026 requirements page publishes performance expectations under particular conditions, not a guarantee for every scene or computer. CD PROJEKT RED says its RT and Path Tracing figures were measured with DLSS, FSR, or XeSS on Auto; other configurations used native resolution. Path Tracing measurements additionally used upscaling and Frame Generation. Compare those figures only with their stated settings and conditions, and do not treat them as a promise for your own setup. The current requirements page explains the qualifications.
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PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro: pick a mode by presentation
CD PROJEKT RED’s September 2026 notes say Ray Tracing Mode now provides enhanced lighting while targeting 60 FPS. Performance Mode targets 60 FPS at a higher resolution and can reach up to 90 FPS on VRR-capable displays. PS5 Pro adds PSSR, VRR, and uncapped frame rates. These are developer-described targets and supported features, not guaranteed results in every area or on every display. Read the Remastered mode details.
- Choose Ray Tracing Mode if enhanced lighting matters more to you than the higher-resolution presentation described for Performance Mode.
- Choose Performance Mode if you prefer higher resolution and smoother motion, especially if your display supports VRR.
- On PS5 Pro, PSSR, VRR, and uncapped frame rates are supported; their presence does not guarantee a particular frame rate in every scene.
To decide between modes, compare them in the same location and while moving the camera. That is a practical way to assess the lighting and motion differences without assuming one presentation is universally better.
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Xbox Series X|S: current Remastered targets are not stated in the change list
The Remastered change list specifies updated mode behavior for PlayStation, but does not provide revised Xbox Series X|S performance targets. The figures often associated with Xbox come from the December 2022 next-gen launch notes: Series X Ray Tracing Mode targeted 30 FPS and Performance Mode targeted 60 FPS with dynamic resolution scaling; Series S had no ray-tracing features, with Quality Mode targeting 30 FPS and Performance Mode targeting 60 FPS. Treat those as launch-era figures, not verified targets for the 2026 Remastered version. See what the 2026 change list does specify and the historical 2022 next-gen notes.
Nintendo Switch 2: supported playstyles and display features
The Remastered notes list four playstyles: Handheld, Pro Controller, Dual Grip, and Mouse Sensor. They also state that VRR is supported in handheld mode and HDR is supported. The notes do not give resolution or frame-rate targets for these playstyles, so no numerical target can be inferred from that feature list. Check the official Remastered notes for Switch 2 support details.
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What older next-gen settings notes still tell you
The December 2022 update introduced the console mode framework described above and, on PC, ULTRA+ controls for background character count, shadows, grass density, textures, foliage range, terrain, water, and detail. It also added DLSS 3 support for compatible hardware at that time. These are launch-era details, not a substitute for the September 2026 feature list when assessing current options. Read the 2022 next-gen change list.
Patch 4.01, released in February 2023, added a PC performance mode for ray-traced global illumination that prioritized frame rate over range and precision. That describes the option in that patch; it does not establish that every current ray-tracing option behaves the same way. See the Patch 4.01 changes.
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How to make a useful comparison
- Record your platform and, on PC, your GPU, output resolution, and the upscaling or frame-generation features enabled.
- Decide whether lighting, resolution, or responsiveness matters most before switching modes.
- Compare the same scene and camera movement, changing one demanding setting at a time.
- On a VRR-capable display, consider whether the relevant platform mode supports VRR; support does not guarantee a fixed frame rate.
- For PC, check the current requirements and feature compatibility rather than assuming a setting is available because another GPU or platform has it.
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