The Witcher 3 Remastered Officially Sets Review Score Record

Published Sep 30, 2026, 2:36 PM EDT

Nicholas Becher is a gaming journalist with an MFA in Creative Writing from FAU. With extensive experience playing video games, he covers all forms of gaming content at Screen Rant, from breaking news to the latest fan theories. Most-played games range from Clair Obscur to Civ to Elden Ring to Halo 2 and beyond. 

More than a decade after Geralt of Rivia's defining adventure first arrived, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has officially returned with its most substantial overhaul yet. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered has just released, modernizing CD Projekt Red's acclaimed RPG while preserving the story, characters, and enormous open world that made the original a landmark release.

The new version goes considerably further than a simple graphical touch-up. Alongside enhanced visuals and performance, Remastered introduces improved combat, overhauled animations, a reimagined skill system, additional camera options, quality-of-life changes, expanded mod support, and numerous other refinements intended to make Geralt's journey feel more modern. It also brings dedicated upgrades for newer hardware while giving longtime players plenty of reasons to start another playthrough.

Those changes have already helped The Witcher 3 accomplish something no other iteration of the game has managed, setting an official franchise record (via Metacritic).

While it's still early, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered is already off to an extraordinary start on Metacritic and critical reviews in general. At the time of writing, the newly released version holds a 94 Metascore, placing it above the original The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's 92 and effectively making this the best-reviewed version of the cor RPG yet.

That 94 also represents the highest Metascore reached by a Witcher release, albeit with an important caveat: Remastered is currently matching the franchise record rather than establishing an entirely new numerical high. The PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Complete Edition both earned 94s as well, while the Xbox One version of the acclaimed Blood and Wine expansion also hit the same mark. The Complete Edition's overall listing sits lower in some comparisons because other platforms, most notably Nintendo Switch, received weaker reviews.

What makes Remastered particularly notable is that its early 94 applies to the newly overhauled version of Wild Hunt itself, putting it two points ahead of the original game's 2015 Metascore. It is an impressive achievement for an RPG already regarded as one of CD Projekt Red's defining releases, suggesting that the extensive visual, gameplay, and quality-of-life improvements have been received as meaningful upgrades rather than simply cosmetic additions.

There is still plenty of room for that score to change, however. The 94 Metacritic is currently based on just ten PC reviews, while the earlier releases accumulated substantially larger review pools. As more critics weigh in over the coming days, the average could move in either direction.

• 

• 

Early player reactions suggest performance could be one factor that influences that score as more reviews arrive. While many fans have praised the remaster's visual and gameplay improvements, Reddit discussions have also highlighted recurring complaints about frame-rate drops, stuttering, screen tearing, and demanding ray-tracing or HairWorks settings, particularly on PS5 and some PC configurations.

Those issues do not appear to be universal, with plenty of players reporting smooth performance, but they are widespread enough to stand out in the early conversation. If similar concerns surface more consistently in forthcoming professional reviews, the current 94 could begin to slip as the review pool grows, making the next several days especially important for determining where Remastered ultimately settles score-wise.

For the moment, though, The Witcher 3 Remastered is not only sitting at the very top of its own franchise, but also among 2026's strongest-reviewed releases. Its current 94 has it tied at the top of Metacritic's 2026 rankings with Sektori, ahead of releases including Resident Evil Requiem, Pokémon Pokopia, and Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave. More than 11 years after Geralt's adventure first earned widespread acclaim, The Witcher 3 has somehow managed to return to steal the show once again.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered

Systems