Geralt Is Back: The Witcher 3 Gets a Free Remaster, a New Expansion and One Last Hunt

More than a decade after The Witcher 3 became one of gaming's defining RPGs, CD Projekt RED is bringing Geralt back. A major free remaster arrives this September, while a completely new expansion called Songs of the Past will send the White Wolf into an unexplored region in 2027. After seeing the first gameplay, this looks far bigger than a nostalgia project.

Eleven years after The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt first released, Geralt of Rivia is somehow heading back onto the Path.

CD Projekt RED used Gamescom 2026 to reveal two major surprises at once. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered launches on September 29, 2026, and existing owners on eligible platforms receive it as a free upgrade. Then, in 2027, Geralt returns for a completely new paid expansion called Songs of the Past.

This is not a small quest pack added to an old game. Songs of the Past introduces a new open world region, new enemies, new abilities, a new weapon and another full Witcher story built around one of Geralt's oldest friends.

And perhaps the strangest part is how natural it all looks.

Watch the Official Songs of the Past Trailer

The trailer takes Geralt into Letten, a lush region in northern Redania and the homeland of Dandelion. CD Projekt RED describes it as a peaceful land built around rural traditions, plentiful harvests and large festivals, but naturally, something darker is hiding underneath all of it.

At first glance, Letten almost looks too pleasant for The Witcher. Green valleys stretch between mountains, farms are busy, villagers move along the roads and beautiful estates sit against a bright countryside.

That peace does not last.

Dandelion Is Finally More Than Comic Relief

Songs of the Past puts Dandelion at the centre of the story in a way The Witcher 3 rarely did.

His full name is Julian Alfred Pankratz, Viscount de Lettenhove, and Letten is his family's homeland. According to a Gamescom preview shown by CD Projekt RED and Fool's Theory, Geralt travels there after Dandelion goes missing. The story begins around the local Belleteyn celebrations, with Geralt waking up after the festivities only to discover that his bard friend is nowhere to be found.

That leads Geralt toward Dandelion's family, including his grandmother and cousin Lilla, and eventually toward an old family mystery involving Count Humbert de Lettenhove.

CD Projekt RED says the expansion is deliberately focused on the friendship between Geralt and Dandelion. That alone makes it interesting. Dandelion has spent years singing about Geralt's adventures. Now Geralt appears to be walking directly into one of Dandelion's own.

It also answers an obvious question.

Why would Geralt leave retirement after the ending of Blood and Wine?

CD Projekt RED's VP story director Marcin Blacha explained that Geralt may have retired in Toussaint, but when his best friend asks for help, he answers. The studio also says this story had effectively been sitting in its creative vault for years before the opportunity arrived to finally make it.

That gives Songs of the Past a better reason to exist than simply "people still like Geralt."

Geralt Finally Gets the Chain

This might be the detail longtime Witcher fans are most excited about.

Geralt now has a silver chain.

It is not a random new fantasy weapon. The chain goes right back to the identity of The Witcher itself.

Geralt famously uses a silver chain against a striga in the original Witcher story, and CD Projekt RED later recreated the moment in the opening cinematic of the first Witcher game.

Yet The Witcher 3 never let us properly use it.

Songs of the Past finally changes that.

During the Gamescom gameplay demonstration, Geralt could whip the chain around groups of enemies, pull individual monsters away from a crowd and target specific body parts. It operates somewhat like Signs or bombs, and precise aiming slows time so the player can choose where to strike.

That immediately caught the community's attention.

One of the most upvoted reactions on r/gaming was essentially relief that the chain had finally appeared after all these years. Another heavily upvoted r/Witcher3 reaction praised how much new material appeared in the trailer and said the free remaster made the return even more exciting.

There is another interesting connection here.

Ciri has also been shown using a chain in Witcher 4 promotional material.

CD Projekt RED has said Songs of the Past is not a Witcher 4 prequel, so fans should be careful about turning that into a giant conspiracy theory. Still, giving both Geralt and Ciri versions of the same iconic Witcher weapon is a fascinating visual link between the old saga and the next one.

The New Monsters Look Properly Unpleasant

Geralt obviously needs something to use that chain against.

Gamescom footage introduced creatures including the Swarmions, enemies designed to overwhelm Geralt in groups. The chain allows players to separate them, control space or keep several creatures away at once.

The demonstration also featured centipede like creatures and a boss called the Slumbering Knight. During that fight, the chain can be used to break the enemy's defence before Geralt moves in with more traditional sword attacks.

CD Projekt RED has also confirmed new abilities and new mutagen systems. The Guardian reports that Songs of the Past introduces DNA modifying mutagens that alter Geralt's biology and supernatural abilities, giving veteran players another way to rebuild their character rather than simply loading an old save and using the same build again.

That is important because Songs of the Past has a difficult job.

It needs to feel unmistakably like The Witcher 3 while still giving people who spent 200 hours with Geralt something they have not already mastered.

The chain may be the answer.

Letten Might Be the Real Star

The Gamescom demonstration suggests Letten is not simply another backdrop for monster contracts.

CD Projekt RED is trying to make the region feel lived in.

During previews, shepherds were seen moving sheep across roads, carts travelled through the countryside, families interacted with children and villagers appeared to follow routines instead of simply standing around waiting for Geralt. NPCs can also use boats and drive carts.

Those details might sound small, but they are exactly the areas where an eleven year old open world begins to show its age.

The original Witcher 3 still looks fantastic in many places. Its cities, however, were largely built around the standards of 2015. Modern open worlds are expected to create the illusion that life continues even when the player is not involved.

CD Projekt RED appears very aware of that.

The developers have described Letten as a valley that escaped much of the destruction experienced elsewhere on the Continent. It is peaceful, prosperous and closely tied to nature. That makes its darker forests and supernatural secrets stand out even more.

It also gives Songs of the Past its own identity.

Velen was miserable.

Skellige was wild.

Toussaint was almost ridiculously beautiful.

Letten seems to sit somewhere between fairy tale countryside and something much less comfortable lurking beneath it.

Watch the Longer Gameplay Preview

If you want something more useful than the teaser, PC Gamer also published footage and developer interviews from its Gamescom preview.

This is the better video to place halfway through the Castiny article because it shows more of Letten, combat and the developers discussing what they are actually changing.

The Bigger Surprise Is The Witcher 3 Remastered

Songs of the Past might be the headline for 2027, but players do not have to wait that long for something new.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered launches September 29, 2026.

And this is considerably more ambitious than another texture upgrade.

CD Projekt RED says the Remastered version includes upgraded visuals and performance, but the more meaningful changes affect how the game actually feels to play.

Combat is being made smoother. Movement and traversal are being improved. Geralt can change targets more naturally during attack animations. Monster behaviour is being upgraded. Roach's handling is being revised. The skill tree is being reworked. Witcher Signs receive new effects, while new finishers, transmogrification and an expanded Photo Mode are also being added.

CD Projekt RED's developers said their goal was essentially to ask what The Witcher 3 would feel like if it had launched in 2026 instead of 2015.

That is a far more interesting approach than simply increasing the resolution.

The original game already received a major next generation update in 2022. If CD Projekt RED wants players to reinstall it yet again in 2026, better shadows are not enough.

Fixing combat, animation, movement, enemy behaviour and some of the game's long standing annoyances is the right place to start.

And Existing Owners Get It Free

This is where the announcement becomes unusually generous.

Players who already own The Witcher 3 on GOG, Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S can receive the Remastered upgrade for free on qualifying platforms.

There is an even bigger surprise.

CD Projekt RED is also giving current owners of the base game access to Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine at no additional cost. Those expansions will also be included with Remastered.

For anyone who somehow owns The Witcher 3 but never played Blood and Wine, that is practically another full RPG sitting inside your library.

The game is also expanding to two new platforms. Remastered gets a native Nintendo Switch 2 release, while The Witcher 3 is finally coming to Battle.net through a new partnership between CD Projekt RED and Blizzard.

The partnership goes further than distribution. Players who buy Songs of the Past through Battle.net will eventually receive a Geralt inspired Diablo IV skin, with more details expected from the two companies around BlizzCon.

That is one crossover we did not have on the 2026 bingo card.

Why Bring Back a Game This Old?

Because The Witcher 3 is not behaving like an old game.

CD Projekt RED says it has sold more than 65 million copies worldwide and collected more than 250 Game of the Year awards since its original 2015 release.

Reuters reported that the free remaster could push the installed base even higher before Songs of the Past arrives. One analyst cited by Reuters estimated total installations could potentially reach roughly 70 to 75 million by the expansion's launch.

There is also a clever timing element.

CD Projekt RED is building The Witcher 4, but that game is still some distance away. Songs of the Past gives the studio something rare: a way to bring millions of players back into the Witcher universe without rushing its next mainline game.

For longtime fans, Geralt gets another adventure.

For newer players, the remaster creates a much easier entry point.

And for CD Projekt RED, everyone starts talking about The Witcher again before Ciri takes over the main series.

That is a pretty good arrangement.

Players Are Already Planning Another 100 Hour Playthrough

The community reaction has been overwhelmingly nostalgic.

A Witcher 3 Reddit thread sharing the new trailer attracted more than a thousand upvotes, with players immediately talking about starting another complete playthrough. One reaction simply said:

“Time for me to replay it.”

Another user celebrated getting yet another free upgrade for a game they had bought years earlier.

The silver chain became another instant talking point. A post sharing the reveal to r/gaming pulled thousands of votes, with fans joking about how long they had waited for Geralt to finally use one properly.

There is also curiosity about how large Songs of the Past really is, what choices will carry over, which characters might return and where exactly it belongs in players' preferred Witcher 3 playthrough order.

This Is How You Bring Back an Old Game

There is an obvious danger in returning to something as loved as The Witcher 3.

Blood and Wine already gave Geralt one of gaming's better endings. Dragging him back for another adventure could easily feel unnecessary.

But Songs of the Past has one thing working strongly in its favour.

It does not seem interested in pretending The Witcher 3 never ended.

Geralt had his retirement. Now an old friend needs him.

That is a believable reason for one last contract.

More importantly, CD Projekt RED and Fool's Theory are not simply dropping a new quest onto an untouched 2015 game. They are rebuilding the experience around it. Combat is changing. Movement is changing. NPC behaviour is changing. A new region is being created. Geralt has a new weapon. Old expansions are becoming free.

There is real effort behind the nostalgia.

And the smartest part may be the timing.

The next Witcher saga belongs to Ciri. Songs of the Past gives Geralt a final chance to take centre stage without competing with her.

One more region.

One more monster.

One more bad decision involving Dandelion.

After eleven years, that sounds surprisingly easy to say yes to.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered releases September 29, 2026. Songs of the Past launches in 2027 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2.