The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered will take full advantage of the PS5 Pro, offering 60 FPS gameplay with ray tracing or an uncapped Performance Mode expected to run at around 90 FPS on compatible displays.
CD Projekt Red previously confirmed that The Witcher 3 Remastered would support PS5 Pro, but we now have a much better idea of what that additional hardware power will actually deliver.
The improvements are substantial.
Veteran graphics engineer and programmer Tim Green has detailed the remaster’s PS5 Pro enhancements, revealing major upgrades to both of its graphics modes alongside support for Sony’s PSSR upscaling technology.
For PS5 Pro owners, one of the biggest improvements is immediately obvious: you’ll finally be able to play The Witcher 3 with ray tracing enabled at 60 FPS.
The Witcher 3 Remastered Runs Ray Tracing at 60 FPS on PS5 Pro
Much like the existing native PS5 version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition, the upcoming remaster will feature separate Ray Tracing and Performance modes.
The difference is what PS5 Pro can do with them.
On the existing PS5 version, enabling Ray Tracing Mode limits gameplay to 30 FPS.
With The Witcher 3 Remastered on PS5 Pro, Ray Tracing Mode will instead target 60 FPS.
That’s effectively double the frame rate while retaining the visual enhancements associated with the mode.
For players who previously had to choose between smoother combat and traversal or the additional graphical features offered by ray tracing, the PS5 Pro version should provide a much more attractive middle ground.
Performance Mode Can Reach Around 90 FPS
Players with high-refresh-rate displays will have another option.
The Witcher 3 Remastered’s Performance Mode will run with an uncapped frame rate on PS5 Pro.
Green says performance should generally settle at approximately 90 FPS, although the exact frame rate can naturally fluctuate depending on what’s happening on screen.
Getting the most out of this mode will require a compatible high-refresh-rate display with VRR support.
For players with the necessary setup, that means The Witcher 3 Remastered could feel substantially smoother than the existing 60 FPS console experience.
The two PS5 Pro options therefore offer a fairly straightforward choice: prioritize the additional visual features and play at 60 FPS, or sacrifice some of those enhancements in exchange for performance potentially reaching around 90 FPS.
The Witcher 3 Remastered Uses PSSR on PS5 Pro
CD Projekt Red is also taking advantage of the PS5 Pro’s PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) technology.
PSSR allows developers to reconstruct a higher-resolution image from a lower internal rendering resolution, helping free up GPU resources that can instead be used to improve performance and other visual features.
For The Witcher 3 Remastered, that means CD Projekt Red can push significantly higher frame rates while attempting to maintain strong image quality.
Green suggested that adapting the game to PS5 Pro was relatively straightforward thanks to the available hardware and technology.
“A lot of it kind of took care of itself,” he explained.
The result is a particularly significant upgrade over the existing console version, especially for anyone who previously avoided Ray Tracing Mode because of its 30 FPS cap.
PS5 Pro Players Get Two Strong Graphics Options
The PS5 Pro improvements leave players with two very different but equally interesting ways to experience Geralt’s adventure.
Ray Tracing Mode will provide the more visually ambitious experience while targeting 60 FPS.
Performance Mode, meanwhile, removes the traditional 60 FPS cap and can reach approximately 90 FPS when paired with the appropriate VRR-compatible display.
For an enormous open-world RPG like The Witcher 3, the latter could make everything from combat and camera movement to simply riding Roach across the world feel noticeably more responsive.
But 60 FPS with ray tracing may ultimately prove to be the more appealing option for many players.
The existing version already demonstrated the visual benefits of its ray-traced presentation, but the 30 FPS limitation forced players to make a significant performance compromise. Doubling that frame rate fundamentally changes the equation.
The Witcher 3 Remastered Could Be a Major Upgrade on PS5 Pro
The Witcher 3 has already received several substantial technical upgrades since its original 2015 release, including the native current-generation version released in 2022.
Remastered is taking things another step further.
While the exact extent of all its improvements will become clearer closer to release, CD Projekt Red’s PS5 Pro implementation already sounds promising for players prioritizing performance.
Having 60 FPS ray tracing and an approximately 90 FPS Performance Mode means PS5 Pro owners won’t be stuck choosing between the traditional 30 FPS quality mode and 60 FPS performance mode we’ve become accustomed to seeing in console games.
PSSR support should also help CD Projekt Red maintain image quality while pushing the hardware significantly harder.
For players planning another journey through the Continent, the PS5 Pro version could end up being one of the smoothest console versions of Geralt’s adventure yet.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered will support PS5 Pro with a 60 FPS Ray Tracing Mode and an uncapped Performance Mode expected to run at around 90 FPS on compatible VRR displays.
Which would you choose: ray tracing at 60 FPS or Performance Mode at around 90 FPS? Let us know in the comments below.
