Fans Claim The Witcher 3 Remastered Looks Worse Than Original

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered is set to launch in just about a week, and when CD Projekt Red shared a comparison clip on Twitter, some fans were less than impressed.

The clip shows Geralt casting Igni on a group of drowners in a swamp, with a side-by-side comparison of the original game and the remaster. While the remastered version boasts significantly more detail on Geralt's armor and much sharper water, the reflections have sparked debate.

In the original, you can see some of the fire reflected in the murky water beneath the drowners, albeit as an orange blur. With the ray tracing in the remaster, you'd expect this to be easily improved, but the clip shows no reflection of the fire at all. The fog also differs greatly: the original features distinct clouds of fog hovering just above the ground, while the remaster opts for a more atmospheric fog in the distance.

Choose your cast - wisely. #TheWitcher3Remastered pic.twitter.com/zcgLSvLvDi

Much of the disparity between the two versions stems from the remaster's use of ray tracing, which the original lacked.

Fan reactions to the clip have been mixed. Twitter user LeafusMaximus commented: "despite literally adding RT to the game you managed to post a pic with worse water reflections, worse fog effects, worse armor textures in some cases (the glove he keeps back towards the camera for example), the new drowner just look wetter, the old ones actually look scaly/mucky." Meanwhile, desugar_64 simply asked, "Are you sure you didn't swap the footage around?"

Fortunately, if you're not a fan of the new visuals, you can revert to an earlier version of the game on PC. It's unclear if this option will be available on consoles, but if you want to prevent your current installation of The Witcher 3 from updating, you can disable automatic updates. If you do plan to upgrade to the remaster, your save data will carry over when the game releases on September 29.