The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered Patch Adds Bloom Toggles on Console and Larger Lighting Changes

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered just got a significant patch to tweak the presentation of CD Projekt’s RPG epic.

Despite the remaster offering a host of improvements over the base game — visually and mechanically — not everyone was happy with how it turned out. Some fans across Reddit and social media complained about its heavy bloom effects, which created a washed out look and removed many of the original game’s stark shadows. Tonally, it felt meaningfully different, and the overdone bloom made it difficult to appreciate other graphical improvements.

“I started the training part at the beginning of the game [and] I noticed that the blooming effects are jacked all the way up which causes the image to look washed out and makes everything look too bright in the environment,” one Reddit poster said. “At first I assumed that it was either the game or my TV settings but after messing with the settings for like an hour I realized that it's actually the game having a ridiculous blooming effect. The PC version allows people to shut the blooming off but the console version doesn't have a way to turn off the blooming.”

The latest patch addresses that issue, allowing console players to toggle bloom off, along with light shafts, and depth of field. Elsewhere, the developer has made improvements to bloom, tone mapping, character lighting, and fancy ray tracing and path tracing tech.

“In addition to this, we are also working on an update for the Nintendo Switch 2 version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered, introducing closer parity between all versions of the game, including the same global changes as on other platforms,” CD Projekt said in the blog post. “It will also improve on some Nintendo Switch 2-specific aspects, such as image clarity and sharpness. Expect more information regarding this in the following days.”

Prior to the latest patch, fans were creating Steam Forum threads urging other players to switch bloom off entirely. In one comparison shot, you can see how bloom impacted the overall image before the improvements.

Patch 5.01 is roughly 5.5 GB on console and 8.5 GB on PC. There’s no word yet on whether The Witcher 3’s remaster will make use of QSSR, Sony’s new upscaling method for base PS5. CD Projekt has typically been at the forefront of tech advances, with its previous game, Cyberpunk 2077, still an absolute showcase of what a good gaming PC can do.

CD Projekt’s next major game will be The Witcher 4, part continuation part reboot, where you play as Geralt’s adopted daughter, Ciri, as she learns to carry the burden of a Witcher. It’s still a while off, however, with The Witcher 4 planned for a 2028 release.

Before that, in 2027, we’ll get a brand new expansion for The Witcher 3, called Songs of the Past. The new expansion will be as big and ambitious as Blood & Wine, working as a gap filler between the events of The Witcher 3 and its sequel.

To ease you into Geralt’s life on the road, check out the Things The Witcher 3 Doesn’t Tell You, plus IGN’s The Witcher 3 Walkthrough and The Witcher 3 Endings guide, which outlines all of the major quests and choices in the base game and expansions (now bundled in with the Remastered edition). When you’re ready for the tough choices, check out our The Witcher 3 Sex and Romance guide to see who Geralt can smooch and all the opportunities to do so. And to make Geralt as strong a monster hunter as possible, check out all the Witcher Gear Locations, Places of Power Locations, and even Gwent Card Locations.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered update 5.01 patch notes:

Gameplay

• Fixed an issue where the "Automatically Apply Blade Oils" feature would work only if enabled during the current game session.
• Fixed an issue where, under specific circumstances, player-controlled boats could start moving uncontrollably and ignore terrain collisions.
• Improved ladder interaction animations.
• Fixed an issue where Geralt would collide with dead enemies after the Aard finisher.
• Fixed an issue where Vesemir would repeatedly say the same line if Quen was cast multiple times.
• Fixed an issue where dodging could have an unintentionally delayed response.
• Fixed an issue where it was possible to throw a bomb even if the option is disabled.
• Fixed an issue where the bonus granted by the Synergy skill displayed incorrect values.
• Added damage reflection to the Exploding Shield skill.
• Fixed an issue where Geralt's Stamina would be fully drained when sprinting and dodging at the same time.

UI

• Fixed an issue where the "You've gained an ability point!" pop-up could stay stuck on the screen.
• Fixed input hints flashing for a brief moment on the meditation screen.
• Fixed an issue where the Potions tutorial didn't appear after accessing the Consumables tab.
• Fixed some misaligned progress bars in the UI.

PC-specific

• Fixed an issue where the GTAO Quality setting would reset after restarting the game.
• Fixed an issue where Dynamic Resolution Scaling could display the wrong setting after changing the Anti-Aliasing mode.
• Fixed cases in which it was possible to enable a graphics setting when using a GPU that doesn't support it.
• Fixed an issue where switching graphics presets could apply DLSS or XeSS on GPUs where they're not supported.
• Changed the default Dynamic Resolution Scaling setting to OFF.
• Fixed an issue where Skill tooltips wouldn't update until hovered over again.
• Fixed an issue where the game could sometimes select the wrong GPU.

Consoles

• Added Bloom, Light Shafts, and Depth of Field options to the graphics settings.
• Made various optimizations to improve performance.
• Fixed an issue where settings on PlayStation 5 would reset every time the game was launched.
• The fix for voiceover audio becoming significantly quieter than other in-game audio after navigating through the pause menu tabs is now also implemented on consoles.
• Fixed issues with incorrect frame rate limits in different graphics modes on the base PlayStation 5.
• Ukrainian text localization is now available in all regions.

Other

• Made various visual adjustments, including improvements to Bloom, tone mapping, character lighting, Ray Tracing, and Path Tracing.
• Due to backend issues, the policy consent screen will appear again. You’ll need to confirm your preferences once more. Choosing to opt in helps us improve the game.
• Fixed an issue where My Rewards and Twitch/Bilibili Drops wouldn't appear in the chest in Vizima if it had been opened previously. As a result of this fix, some of the items may be duplicated. Consider them a bonus!
• Fixed an issue where foliage did not react to collisions.
• Fixed an issue that could affect save file data and added measures to address saves that may have already been affected.
• Fixed an issue where Dynamic Resolution Scaling could cause visual artifacts in certain configurations.